


Cresting Waves

by Arones



Series: Oceanic Musings [2]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, F/M, Mystery, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-11-07 18:27:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arones/pseuds/Arones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will has died and Helen is left alone on the cold floor of the storage room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red Mist

**Author's Note:**

> No. 2 in the "Oceanic Musings" Series

Helen didn't know what came over her, but she felt a sudden rage begin in her chest and rise to her throat trying to claw its way out. She was still clutching his hospital gown to her chest and lying on the floor. Before she felt as though she couldn't move, but in that moment she had to get up and stand. There was nothing that was going to prevent the anger from bursting forth and latching on to attack anyone in the nearest vicinity.

She sat up, her eyes flitting over the room and everything that she could see. It was dark already and she was sure someone would have been looking for her. Her features were set and she tightly wound her fingers into the soft material in her hands. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath. She took a moment and realized that the utterance felt good. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" She all but screamed the last time. Her body only moved with the inhale and exhale of breath until she reached for her shirt that had been discarded earlier. She was rough when she threw it over her shoulders and started to violently button it up.

Standing, she straightened her skirt, pursed her lips and set out of the room with the gown still in her hands and the smell of sex permeating her nostrils. She left that room far behind and began to make her way through the halls wishing at once that no one would find her and at the same time that someone would so she could tear them a new one. She was moving to her office when she ran into Kate.

"Doc! We've been looking all over for you and Will."

Magnus clenched her teeth and prevented herself from snorting out a short burst of air. "Well you found me."

"Where's Will?" There was concern in her tone and Magnus didn't miss it.

"What have you of it? He's dead is what he is. John came and dragged him off, teleporting and killing both of them."

"What?" Kate's eyebrows rose, her voice was pitched high and her knees grew weak. "He's dead?"

"Yeah, Kate. It happens a lot in our line of work…" Magnus paused in her rant for a second and took a step back, her eyes began to water and she had to look away from the short Indian. Her next words were barely a whisper and a defining moment of realization, "He's gone."

Kate reached out and pressed her hand to her boss's arm, holding tightly. "Magnus?"

Helen shook her head. "Don't talk to me." She brushed past her employee and young friend and continued on down the hallway. The tears were leaking from her eyes before she made it to her bedroom. When she got there she pressed her face into the wall and started to sob once again. Helen fell to her knees and pounded her fist into the wood of the door that she insisted on having.

She didn't know how long she had been lying on the floor. The carpet was new and it still smelt odd and annoying to her sensitive nose, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She was clutching his gown again and pressing it to her face. She should have gone to his rooms. There would have been more to smell, but that might have made her break down even more than she was. "Come on, Helen. You're about as broken down as you can get." Her voice echoed through the room before the sob finished her statement, which left the silence to ring out further only proving her point.

The door started to creak open slowly and she sat up, bringing the wayward piece of clothing to her chest and watching who the intruder was. She knew it was him before she could see his face. No one, except Nikola Tesla would wear clothes that expensive around her, except her of course. She hid the hospital gown under the set of dressers that was right next to the door and the closest thing within her reach.

"Helen?" His voice was timid. Kate had told him what had happened, or at least all that she knew had happened. Nikola saw her crouched down and he dropped to his knees slowly. "Oh, Helen." She couldn't keep the tears away from her face and she was barely keeping her breathing even. When he touched her she almost broke completely again.

"Nikola…"

His hand rubbed over her cheek softly. "Come on, you need to get off the floor." She nodded and he helped drag her to her feet, standing her upright in the heels and holding on a bit longer than necessary. He told himself it was because of her shoes and he wanted to make sure she wouldn't fall in them. She rested her face against his shoulder and drew in a deep breath to steady herself emotionally. "John?"

She nodded reticently. "It's always John isn't it?"

"Helen, why do you—"His words were cut off from her lips and it was most unexpected. Well, he couldn't say that it was completely unexpected. Something similar had happened multiple times in the past: when her father disappeared, one time after John had showed up, after the first time she killed Adam Worth. Nikola took full advantage, exactly like she knew he would and exactly like she expected him to.

Nikola had her pinned to the wall in seconds and his hands sliding down her body. She always did like it a little rough, but because of the circumstances he was thinking he would take it easy on her. He had her completely pinned, with hands above her head and his body pressed deliciously into hers. She was bucking against him trying to have more contact and it made Nikola smile. She was only this eager when she was emotionally distraught.

He slipped a hand down her side gently, using his vampire strength with his other to hold her in place. He reveled in her curves and the soft material of her blouse. It was then that he noticed her buttons weren't lined up right. He pulled back away from her to look down and make sure that his hands weren't just fooling him. It was confirmed. Helen Magnus had mis-buttoned her shirt. "Helen…" he started and she cut him off.

"Nikola." She said his name in a tone that he had heard almost every time he had seen her over the past years. It was with exasperation seething through the word.

"I'm taking this slow, Helen." He growled it out, his voice dipping lower than he intended, but he caught himself and kissed her softly. His tongue slipped around hers and he was easily losing himself in the gentle kiss that he never got from her. That all changed when she bit his lip so hard that he started to bleed.

The vampire pulled back and started at her: nails extended, eyes black, teeth sharp and neck popping when he twisted it to the side. "That was not nice, my dear." She grinned in response when he ravished her mouth. Her clothes were off in two seconds flat. He released her captive wrists so he could slice through the beautiful material covering her body. Helen was breathing heavily and still plastered against the wall.

There was a pause in movement and momentum as he took everything in. She was naked in front of him, and she was wanton. She let out a desperate sound that he couldn't resist. Nikola's mouth was on her neck and her shoulder taking bites, digging his teeth into her flesh until blood slowly slid down her pale skin. His tongue flicked out so he could lap the sweet liquid up before he moved further down her chest to make more small punctures. "You taste wonderful, my dear." His voice was so low, so seductive to her ear that she groaned. His lips captured her nipple before biting down, making a ring of teeth marks around her areola.

He continued on down her stomach and over her smooth thighs and then back up her other leg, to her other breast. He repeated the same process that he had before until she yanked his head away from her. "Damn it, Nikola, fuck me already." She slammed her mouth against his and started to take control of the situation. "Fuck me now." She ripped open the front of his pants and clutched his penis hard in her fingers and tugged on him a few times. Nikola bit into the other side of her neck and shoved her up the wall with a hand on her neck until her feet were no longer touching the ground.

"Stop it."

Instead of releasing him she wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to smile and breathe at the same time. Her head was beginning to swim with black and gray spots and she lost sight of him multiple times before he released her body back down and thrust into her suddenly with no warning. His mouth was latched onto the side of her breast, between the valley of her cleavage. His nails were digging into her sides, slicing the soft skin. Helen raked her fingers through his hair and over his clothes. He was pumping into her faster and faster until she was having difficulty drawing in breath.

"Would you get me off already?"

He hadn't even touched her clit and she was starting to get angry. It was building in the bottom of her chest again and she just needed to feel that release. Nikola didn't blink as he continued exactly as he was, completely ignoring her. His mouth switched breasts and he again was swirling his tongue around to try and drink in as much red liquid as he could. It was his lifeline, they both knew it.

"Nikola did you hear me?" She raised her voice and grasped his hair tightly dragging his head away from her. "Fuck me and get me off. Stop playing games."

The vampire nodded then and retracted his claws on one hand dipping his fingers down and rubbing them as hard as he could over her. She gasped and threw her head back into the wall loudly banging her skull against it. There was a dent in the material behind her when her head bounced back again from the force. "Hurry up, Nikola." She was growling now and he ignored her only to quicken his movements and increase the pressure.

Finally, the wave was crested and Helen came down on her. Her muscles clenching harder than he thought possible and he spilled hotly into her. Nikola took a moment to breathe, still pressing into her body and still encased within her. When he felt her fists against his chest he was taken aback for a moment. Her hands were pounding into him, one after the other. He took a step back and let her slide to the ground in a heap of exhaustion and tears. "Helen," he reached for her.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She was forceful even in her weakness. It was something that he had always admired and loved about her. He tucked himself into his pants and sat back on his heels, not ready to leave her just yet.

Minutes later, she was still curled and sobbing, Nikola was still sitting and watching and both heard the tell-tale signs of John teleport into the room. The vampire stood immediately and grabbed the robe that was over the side of the bed and threw it at her. Helen wrapped herself tightly and dried underneath her eyes. "John?" When she finally looked at him she saw the bites on his own chest and the blood trailing down his body. He fell to his knees and lifted his face up to her, his alabaster skin marred. She noted the bite on his chin that covered half of his cheek and half of his neck and looked nasty and deep.

With her shoes already disposed of she raced over to him and helped his body down to the ground. "John, what happened?"

"He's not dead, Helen. Will, he's not dead."


	2. Tasting Red

Helen was fully clothed and had John in the infirmary with his wounds irrigated and clean. She was slowly stitching them up. She had started with the bite on his chin as it seemed to be the worst. She had remained silent as she and Nikola had helped him down the hallways; in fact, all three of them had remained utterly quiet. Nikola had left as soon as he was sure John wasn't going to kill her and retreated to the labs where he could normally be found.

She finished with his chin quickly and started on the bites on his chest. She had been completely focused on the work she was doing, but he could see her mind spinning. She had questions and a lot of them. She was halfway done before she broached the stilted air. "What happened, John?" Her voice was demanding yet quiet and he wasn't sure how to answer her.

 

He was walking slowly down the hallway looking for her. He knew she had told him that she didn't want to see him again, but he couldn't help himself. She was one of his greatest weaknesses and he had to be as close to her as possible. He had found Bruno, the most annoying bird abnormal he had ever run into, and 'bribed' the creature into telling him about this place. He had expected some sort of energy shield in the least, so when he teleported into the room using the harsh and crude drawing the bird had given him, he was quite shocked to not have been thrown back out on a rebound. 

He noted that this building was very different from any building she had ever resided in, and had ever constructed to hold one of her Sanctuaries. The technology was highly advanced and no doubt Praxian. He wondered how she acquired it, but at the same time he didn't want to be distracted from his mission of finding her. He wanted to set her right. He was going to make her face him this time, he was going to say what he wanted to say, and he was going to make sure this time that she understood exactly what he wanted from her. 

There was a sound further down the corridor and he caught it on an echo. It was gasp and a moan soon followed it. Curiously he inched forward, keeping his feet silent on the floor and his ears perked up in curiosity. When he heard it again he was sure it was her. He heard his love issue vile words from her gorgeous lips, "So hot, Will, it's so hot." He had to do something. He couldn't allow that man to take her in any capacity. He was an insolent child and she deserved far better than him. 

He strode violently into the room and grabbed onto the man's shoulder and pulled him back before teleporting away to deal with him out of the sights of the woman. What he hadn't expected was that Will was an abnormal, red and slick skinned, or that the young protégé had the ability to teleport himself. They appeared in what seemed to be a forest on the surface. The trees were tall, and there was a cool breeze that brushed over his bald head. He was taking in the rest of his surroundings when there was a stabbing pain in the back of his neck. 

Flinging a hand behind him, John pulled the wayward Will off his neck and threw him violently to the ground. Will was on him again in an instant, his teeth digging into his chest this time. He had mastered the art of teleportation quickly and was using it to his advantage. He got in several more bites and blows on John before the elder man teleported into Helen's bedroom. 

 

"Will happened, is what. What did you do to him?"

She was taken aback by his statement for a moment before she threaded the needle through the skin on the back of his neck. "He took a virus that was made from remnants of Source Blood. It changed him."

"You let him do this willingly?"

"I did not." Her indignation was clear with him and John kept his mouth shut tight until she spoke again. "You never answered me John, how did you survive?"

"I teleported after you jumped through the time portal and just before the second blast rushed through the caldera's. I surfaced a few miles away."

Instead of responding, she covered his cuts with gauze and tape and stepped back not looking at him and taking off her gloves. "Did you kill him?"

The silence took over the room. John sincerely wished he had killed the bumbling idiot of a man and Helen sincerely wished that Will had succeeded in killing John. She was hoping that Johns call of her young protégé about him not being dead mere minutes before wasn't a cry only for her attention and help. Finally, his voice rumbled out, "No, I didn't kill him."

"Well that's not usually something you lie about."

"What does that mean?" His voice was high and his shoulders tense.

"Do you really think that I should believe you outright? God, John, how many times have you lied about something like this before? Usually you'll tell me you have killed someone and I only find out later that you've lied to me once again. Did you really think anything would be different this time? Is that why you came back here even after I told you I never wanted to see you again?" Her eyes were boring into his face and he couldn't look away no matter how much he wanted to.

"You deserve so much better than him."

"What do you know of what I deserve? Or of what I want? What makes you think you have any say in that matter at all? Damn it, John." She slammed the latex gloves onto the small metal tray. "When are you going to get over this? I told you once and I will tell you again. We are not meant to be together."

"I love you." His voice wasn't asking; it wasn't pleading her to love him back. It was simply a statement and it was her undoing. She watched him and the seconds ticked by. She didn't speak a word, not an utterance until suddenly her lips were melded with his. John didn't dare move his hands; instead he let her set the pace. Her tongue inched out to taste his lips and her hands cupped his cheeks keeping him close to her.

She moved away suddenly and swiftly, her fist connecting with his chest before she pulled back. "Damn it, John!" He watched her carefully as she roughly cleaned the used utensils and equipment. It took her around ten minutes before she came back to him, with a sharp needle in hand filled with antibiotics. Helen pressed it into his arm and depressed the plunger before moving back to the work station and disposing of the dirty needle.

She rested against the pristine counter and looked him over. The anger had dissipated almost suddenly and she had no idea why. There as a sudden peace that came over her that she couldn't quite explain. Helen closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, reveling in the moment of quiet stillness in her stomach. There was a flash of blood spattered all around, she saw hands pale and red stained in front of her eyes and her own stomach clenched at the image. The smell of the red liquid permeated her nostrils and burned churning her stomach and exciting her heart at the same time. It was a call to her, one that she wasn't going to be able to easily ignore. Her tongue flicked over her lips, wetting the skin before being retracted into her mouth.

The taste on her buds was amazing, sweet and irony, just as she imagined. The flavor swirled around her mouth and she was savoring every last bit as the image of a tongue sweeping along the fingers that were once bloody. Every last drop was cleaned from the hands and she sighed heavily opening her eyes, the sweet iron lingering in the back of her throat and the overwhelming calm settled in the pit of her stomach once again.

She caught her name on the tip of his tongue and finally resurfaced into the real world, her eyes locking onto his still form. John was still sitting on the infirmary bed, unmoved. He was cleaned, but his pale skin would allow the red liquid she was craving to pop from his body. The contrast would be daring and bold. Helen shook her head clearing the thought before slowly gliding back over to him. She sat on the bed and ran the thin blanket through her fingers, staring at her hands and not looking at him.

John decided to speak first, to engage her in the conversation and tilt it in the direction that he wanted it to go. "Do you remember, a few years ago when the energy being took over your sanctuary?" She nodded quietly, only half paying attention to him. She was trying to get the taste out of the back of her throat. "The being is gone from me."

"What do you mean, John?"

"It's gone. I'm at peace, once again."

Their eyes connected and she watched him carefully, as she had so many times in their past. His eyes were so blue, the same color as Ashley's. She had loved looking into those eyes when her daughter was young. "She looked so much like you, you know." Her quiet tone stopped him from saying anything further. His hand grasped hers gently, his thumb brushing over the back of her knuckles in a soothing and patterned rhythm. "She looked so much like you, but she was so much like me. She was strong willed and independent. She always fought for what she believed was right."

"That sounds exactly like you."

Helen shook her head and raised her face to his again since it had fallen to his fingers caressing hers. "She was beautiful and she was my baby." The tears started to streak down her cheeks and she couldn't keep them at bay, she didn't even try to. John lifted his other hand and swiped away the salty drops with the edge of his finger, bringing the wet skin to his lips and kissing away the tear. They sat there in comfortable silence for a long time until finally Helen leaned down and pressed her lips quickly to his cheek. John shifted to the side and Helen took the hint, moving onto the bed further and curling into his body.

Her cheek was rested against his bare skin and he was so warm. John's chest was rising and falling and she felt her eyes drifting closed. She breathed him in and remembered every moment she had done that before. It was so comforting to her, so normal and simple that she clung onto it like a lifeline. John wrapped his long arms around her shoulders and held her tightly. She rarely allowed him this and he wasn't about to deny or question it. His hand skimmed up her arm that was clothed and her dark locks tickled his nose. He kissed the top of her head and entangled their fingers together over his abdomen. It took them a long time, but eventually they both slipped into a light sleep.


	3. Red With Rage

Nikola stalked back into the infirmary close to an hour after he'd left it last. He'd grown frustrated with his newest toy and needed a break. He also decidedly wanted to check on Helen and John in order to make sure both, or at least one and the right one, was still alive and well and no worse for wear. The door had been wide open and only one bed was filled. Nikola could see John lying there, but Helen was nowhere in sight. Thinking that he would give the Ripper a good talking to, he moved swiftly over and was about to reach out and grasp the pale man's neck when he saw her breathing softly.

There was a piece of hair tucked under her face that would move with each breath she took. The claws from his hand retracted tediously slow as he was debating whether or not to scare the man anyway. He knew they would never be "in a relationship" per se, what she gave to him of her body was all that he would ever receive and he was perfectly content with that and a few doses of intense flirting. But this had been unexpected. Nikola remembered distinctly when John had left the first time. It was so sudden and Helen had tried to remain strong, but she had been the least prepared for it out of all of them.

Her sleeping form was most beautiful and he'd rarely if ever seen her in this state. He was silent as he watched over the two of them. This was really not how he had expected to find them at all. He was half tempted to brush the hair out of her face, but he would no doubt wake her and everyone who knew the great Helen Magnus knew that when she slept she needed to sleep. Nikola slowly backed out of the infirmary, his mind swirling and his stomach in knots. If she went back to him, he wouldn't stay around that was for sure. He wouldn't watch John do that to her again.

There was a slight noise, like a door shutting that started to bring the sleeping man around into the waking world. John was sleeping, lightly and dozing in and out of consciousness. He knew there was a warm body pressed into his, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. He'd slept with lots of women. A lot of whom, in his early years, didn't wake up with him in the morning, but he'd seemed to temper that urge quite well over the last century or so. He tightened his arms, secretly reveling in the feeling of the warmth against his skin. His eyes were still closed and he was imaging that it was his Helen tucked into his side. Blonde curls would be trailing over her face and back and her chest would be rising and falling in a steady rhythm. John could almost smell her when he breathed in, her soft scent that no matter how many women he had been with he couldn't find a suitable replacement or something that matched it. It was pure Helen.

With his nose buried in the hair that was strewn over his chest he decided he could stay there for a while longer before getting up. When she moved and sprawled her body on top of his, he caught a whiff of the antiseptic and clean wash that was distinctive of a hospital. His eyes snapped open and he looked around. He was in an infirmary and none other than a brunette Helen Magnus was laying on top of him fast asleep. His fingers brushed gently over her cheek and his chin hit his chest so he could see her face. She was so beautiful and even more so in sleep, when she didn't have a million things swirling around in her brain.

Her chin lifted up and she pecked him on his lips, eyes open and her lips curling upwards. John stroked a finger over her face again. "It's really gone?"

He nodded quietly. Last time he had only felt this calm for an hour or so, this time it had lasted so much longer. He wanted it to stay that way; he didn't want to go back to what he had become. "We can go back to how it was before."

"Oh, John." She raised herself up and looked down at him with pity on her face and tenderness in her eyes. "We can never go back to how it was before, don't you understand that?" She began to get up and extricate herself from him when she felt the desire course through her spine and straight to her center. It was such a powerful feeling that it took her a second to recover and move completely off the infirmary bed.

"I love you, Helen." This time, when he spoke the words they were in anger and desire. He expected it to solve everything; that all she wanted or needed from him was his love and that he would always give to her unconditionally.

She swung around to face him, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes flaring with volatile fury. "You raped me, John. More than once. You have killed so many women, so many people in pure rage. What's different now? After all that's happened, can you honestly say that anything is different?"

"I'm not the same man I was, Helen. I can't explain it to you. I know the energy being is gone and it was my rage. I convinced you of this once I don't know how I could possibly attempt to convince you of it again."

She looked down at their hands that were once again tangled and resting on his stomach. "I don't know that you can."

John sat up then and brushed his lips over her cheek bone. "Let me try." She nodded and turned into him, to kiss him fully. The image came into her mind unbidden. Teeth were sinking into the neck of a human hybrid and Helen couldn't quite figure out which hybrid it was. She could only see the skin and taste the blood in the back of her throat again. She bit into John's lip gently enough to not break skin, but hard enough to hurt before she ripped off the gauze from one of his covered wounds. Her tongue slipped out and swirled around the healing wound. The heat in her body was rising and the feeling of need was consuming her. She didn't care in that moment that it was him; all she cared about was feeling more. John tried to speak, but she covered his mouth with hers cutting off any words.

Large hands covered her sides and she leaned into him pressing him further down onto the bed so she could climb on top of him once more. He was still half naked, his skin marred. She pulled off all the gauze she could find and reach. She kissed and tasted every exposed wound that she saw. John was taken aback by her sudden eagerness and let her have her wicked way with him. He'd let her do anything to him really, so long as it produced pleasure in any form. He dragged her face back up to his mouth and ravished her lips. Not a breath passed until they had to draw in the air.

He flicked his fingers over the front of her shirt and all of her buttons came undone in an instant. He cupped her breasts and lifted them up feeling the weight. They were heavier, fuller than the last time he had felt them. He pulled the cups of her bra down and pinched her nipples hard and twisted just as he remembered she liked. Helen cried out and threw her head back in ecstasy. John saw the bites along the column of her throat then, the sharp points that even nicely, just like a vampire's.

He was distracted from his line of thought when his pants were unzipped and her mouth was around him hot and wet. John's back arched into the mattress and his hand fisted in her hair tugging tightly. She would have cried out in pain but his cock was filling her mouth and she couldn't utter a sound. She scraped her teeth hard against him, knowing that it would hurt and not caring. She needed this, exactly as it was. She waited until he arched again and then shoved two saliva wet fingers into his anus, pushing in past the first two knuckles.

The sound echoed in the room, low and guttural and shocking as it rang out. Her tongue tickled over his head and teased, flicking back and forth. He started to spurt uncontrollably into her mouth and Helen swallowed a few gulps before holding the rest of his semen in her cheeks. She waited until he was done and stretched up until her mouth was even with his and kissed him fully. John's lips were open as he tried to calm his breathing and heart rate and was not expecting the taste that he encountered. She spit his semen into his mouth, moving her tongue against his violently and biting down on the muscle when he tried to pull back and away from her.

Helen's fingers were still inside of him, curling and pressing into his prostrate alternating pressures back and forth. His cock that had softened was beginning to harden again, when she looked down between her legs that were straddling his body, she grinned broadly happy with her success. Her other hand grasped him tightly and began to shimmy up and down his aching member while he twitched and wiggled against her. Her eyes glittered mischievously and she bit down on her own lip concentrating only on him, the need and tingling in her center, and the taste of blood in the back of her throat. The image was still flashing through her mind, but the abnormal that had been attacked was long dead, the blood again cleaned from the hands and arms that had done such a terrible thing. But she was thriving on it. The violence was turning her on more than she had ever been turned on before.

She heard the teleport happen a second before she was whisked backwards and flung across the room. Helen's body slid across the floor until it collided with the wall in a heap. She coughed and brought a hand to her stomach and rolled to her back trying to catch the breath that had been so suddenly knocked from her chest. Her head rolled to the side, eyes blurry and the image in front of her was moving rapidly like a very unsteady camera. She could barely make anything out, her vision fading from black to white. She would have a concussion for sure. Once she could breathe again, and hear properly she overturned her body to try and stand. She could hear the voices, they were so loud. John was yelling at someone. She could hear a fist break as it collided with something hard. Grunts as body parts hit body parts.

She was on her knees and it felt as if the ground was being tilted from side to side like she was on some crazy roller coaster ride. She lurched forward; breathing heavily Helen tried to muster the strength to get a step closer to standing. After much effort, she made it to her feet and swayed into the wall. She used it to push herself back up, her eyes closed. That was when she smelt him. "Will," her voice was soft and quiet, cracking with effort. "Stop it, Will." She stumbled over to the two men who were throwing fists in the other's face and planted herself between them.

John's hand pulled back and she ducked just in time as it came crashing forward. However, she moved too slowly because his hand grazed the side of her head and she collapsed once again on the floor, moaning loudly before falling into unconsciousness. Both men stopped. Will looked from the Ripper to the woman and back again. He knelt down next to Helen and grabbed her hand before teleporting away.


	4. Blinded by Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for graphic violence. If you are not ok with this please do not read.

Helen awoke slowly with a very dry throat. She tried to swallow a few times but was having difficulty even doing just that. Her eyes were still closed and everything smelt odd and burned around her. She couldn't quite make sense of what was going on. "Helen." The voice was soft and very close to her ear, she was sure that it was close because she could feel lips moving against her skin. "Helen, open your eyes."

"Will?" She didn't want to open her eyes; she was sure any light that hit them would cause her immense amounts of pain.

"I'm right here." She felt his hand, warm and soft against her cheek then. "You hit your head, hard. Can you open your eyes?"

She hummed that she could and drew in a slow breath. She tried to lift her hand to reach up and touch his fingers against her, but she missed and her hand fell heavily to the ground next to her face. She huffed out a puff of air and spoke softly, "Don't want to." Her speech was slurred and it was starting to worry him. It had been a good three hours since he'd brought her here and she hadn't moved a muscle. But he wasn't about to bring her back down to her new Sanctuary.

"Just open them a little. It's dark in here, I promise. I need to check your pupils."

He stroked her cheek lightly with his thumb. "They're fine." She gave as an answer. Will waited to see if she would still comply with him, but instead her stomach started to convulse, up and down like rocky waves against the bow of a ship. She wasn't moving except for her stomach, that was until her chest started to raise and drop heavily and her forehead broke out in a cold sweat. It took him a minute to realize what was happening before he reacted. He pushed her shoulder and hip until Helen was on her side and her head was tilted into soft grass under her face. The blades were tickling her nose but she wasn't able to pay attention to it as the vomit rose up her body. She barely opened her mouth and Will had to turn his face into his shoulder as the bile leaked and forced its way between her lips.

It took a minute before the smell reached him and he started to gag. Helen didn't move; her body relaxing in its immobile state. Turning her on her back once again, Will pulled her away and started to pat her cheek lightly not wanting to jar her any more than necessary. She slipped back into unconsciousness. Will sighed heavily and sat back on his heels watching her carefully. He could feel the burning feeling that began in his toes: the rage that was slowly building and would continue to build. After he had the fist fight with John, he was able calm down for a longer length of time than he had before. That and his fear and worry for Helen's well-being when he realized the harm that had come to her. But it was starting again, in his toes. He hadn't spent the time before to recognize where it started, it would probably have been a good idea if he had but the strength of it had blinded him until the violent act took place.

His thighs were starting to get angry with him. The constant bouncing up and down as he tried to let the emotion wash over him and focus only on his worry and love of her was making his muscles protest more loudly than they had since he'd been stranded with her at sea. That memory only served to spike the rage in his toes to his stomach. He had been good and truly pissed with her at that time and the memory only served to bring those feelings right back into his gut. He tried to tap her face again, hitting her hard enough this time that her head moved back and forth with the force of it. "Helen! Helen, wake up!" He needed her to open her eyes; he needed to see the blue; he needed to lose himself in her and only her and then it would go away. He was sure of it. "Helen, come on." His voice took on a whiny and strained tone. "I need you to wake up, come on, Helen." He pressed his lips to hers over and over again trying to get her to wake up.

When she didn't respond in the least he pressed his ear to her lips and felt her breath against his cheek. He plastered his face into her chest and grasped onto her sides. "Wake up!" He howled it, tears streaming down his face before he released her body and teleported away.

He reappeared where he knew he could find one. It was all her fault anyway, she had betrayed his humanity and she always chose them over him. He stalked through the alleyway between two ill-used streets in the fifth-ward. His jaw was set tightly, molars grinding against each other squeaking in his ears. His brows were furrowed in anger and his eyes scanned old brick and dirty walls. It reeked of week old garbage and dead animals. He scrunched his nose trying to block on the rancid stench and focus only on the sweet aroma of blood.

It took maybe ten minutes before he found what he wanted. The man was walking slowly down the alley. Will sidestepped behind a dumpster and waited, using his nose and ears to pinpoint how far the stumbling body had come. He morphed slowly into his other self: his skin red and black, slimy with slick perspiration, his eyes sparking in the dead of night. His breaths became rapid and shorter as the anticipation built in the pit of his stomach. The man was so close; he could almost reach out and touch him. Will looked out and saw him leaned against the brick wall opposite of where he was sitting. There was fire being pressed to a thin glass tube as he smoked and breathed in crystal meth. The man's eyes were closed until he laid his head back and Will saw that not only his pupils were black, but his entire eyeball was black. He licked his lips wondering what it would be like to pop them out of the junkie's face.

He didn't think it would be bloody until he ripped them away in a fist, but juicy. It would be juicy when he squeezed the eyeball in a clenched hand. Slowly he rose from his squatted position, funny how in anticipation his legs never protested. His mind moved back rapidly to the task at hand, ignoring the thought immediately. Keeping his feet quiet like she had taught him he moved silently, loping down the darkened and closed off alley to the junkie. "Hey man," Will's voice rang out, echoing off the tag adorned walls.

The abnormal looked at Will, his eyes registering a moment too late as his neck was snapped in two. The loud pop was satisfying, but even though his quarry was dead Will couldn't leave it at that. He took the man's left arm between his two hands. He ran fingers over the skin looking at the track marks up and down the pale and dead flesh. The arm was brought up to his lips and he flicked his split tongue over the rough and dirt infested skin. A flea jumped from the man's long arm hair and onto Will's nose. He huffed out a short breath and shook his head ridding the vermin. Sniffing along the flesh he decided where the best place to sink his teeth into the man's body would be. He chose to do it on the inside of the arm, right where—if he were alive—the blood would be pumping. Close to the elbow, just below the crook. He licked around the area, cleaning the skin so when he took his bite, the blood would flow without grains of soil and sweat tainting its flavor.

Teeth pieced the skin and ripped the chunk away. Will chewed a few bites, savoring the bodily fluids that were spilling onto his taste buds and mixing with his saliva. He spit the chunk out and took another bite recklessly. Ignoring all the ritual he had been so careful to preserve before. He had moved to the man's neck after his arm was completely gnawed through when he heard the rustle behind him. His neck twisted sharply, popping the vertebra without intention. He tilted it to the side popping it more, enjoying the sensation of the release of his tense muscles. His eyes were closed, but his ears and nose were still sharp, waiting for any sensory data that he could pick up.

He moved down the body stripping it quickly after determining that there was no one coming. He started to rip pieces of flesh off the calf muscle and the thigh. There wasn't much to him, but he was the best Will could do. He'd killed a human before, but to him abnormals tasted spicier. The taste lingered longer. His cheek brushed against the bulged groin. That happened sometimes when someone died. Will continued to move his face against the skin. He wanted soft flesh; easy flesh to bite next. Moving the prostrate penis aside with a bloodied hand he leaned down and pressed his nose into the tight skin at the edge of pubic hair. He drew in the scent of death, the smell permeating his brain to the very core before he slid sharp teeth into the skin, the fat and the muscle deep beneath. He suckled at the juices that began to spill out around his lips. He let his tongue snake out to lick up the wayward drops that he almost lost. He ripped backwards suddenly when he heard the rustle again.

This time, rather than waiting any longer, he slinked away down the alley and waited patiently to see who would come. He was holding on to the edge of the dumpster that he had hidden behind before when his mind flashed to her vulnerable and lifeless body. He had to get back to her; he had to make sure she was alright, that everything was ok.

Teleporting back to her prone form the wretched smell of vomit overwhelmed him. He took a few deep breaths through his mouth before he looked over her body. She'd thrown up again. He was lucky she hadn't choked because she obviously hadn't moved. There was a brown liquid that was drying on her cheeks and in her hair and small amounts were still bubbling up when she breathed and spilling over her lips. "Helen," he wanted to reach out and touch her, but the roiling in his stomach strongly disagreed with that thought. He latched his hand onto hers, squeezing her fingers lightly and letting his head rest against his knee that was propping up his chest. "I'm so sorry, come back to me. Helen, please." He was almost back to where he was when he left. Completely helpless and ready to let the rage in his toes take over again.

He took them away quietly, knowing that he had to do something. They landed in another forest, very similar to the one they had left. He knew this place very well, had been here many times and knew right where he was going. He picked up her lifeless form and carried her down a hill and over tree roots. Will stumbled a couple of times, and managed to hit her head on a branch twice. He was thankful that was all he had managed to do. He laid her under some brush and began to slowly unbutton her blouse. Pushing apart the seams he watched as her abdomen and lace covered breasts were bared to him. He glided his fingers over her soft and warm skin from the tops of her mounds, down through the valley to her belly button and the top of her pants. He slid his fingers under the button and snapped it upon. Slowly he pulled the material down her legs, rocking her body when he needed to so he could get her free of the fabric. He moved his hands from her ankles to her panties where he followed the same trail down her body. Turning her slightly on her side, he flicked the clasp and tugged the last of the cloth away from her. Sitting back on his haunches he looked over her, the first time he had seen her naked and she was beautiful. He pressed gentle lips low on her abdomen and whispered, "So beautiful, my Helen."


	5. Red Bleeding Through

After stripping himself, Will gently picked her up and carried her to the hot pool of water that was the natural hot springs in this area. He knew this area like the back of his hand, but the familiarity didn't phase him as he carefully slid into the waters. The only thing he was concerned about was the woman in his arms: the very unconscious and dirty woman in his arms. He wasn't one for bodily fluids and after she had puked all over herself, he needed to get her cleaned. Hopefully the waters, and the healing properties that he had read about in some of her books that were in the waters, would help to mend her body faster. There was a rock that he moved to and sat atop. It allowed enough water around him and a comfortable position where he could be sure to keep her head above the water.

He angled her form carefully and brought a cupful of water up to her face. Gently he watched the water trickle over her and a small amount of the vomit fall away. Deciding that there no way all the grossness, as he was deeming it, was going to come off without added help Will took a deep breath and cupped more water and used his fingers to clean her. Once her face was clear he shifted and let the back of her head fall into the water. He ran his fingers through the locks untangling them and cleaning them as best he could. She was starting to wake up when he was just finishing with her hair and was moving his fingers down her neck.

The muscles in her legs and back tensed and he held on tightly whispering soft words into her ear. "It's ok, Helen. I'm right here. Don't struggle." To her credit, she didn't. She let him continue to fawn over her until she was fully aware of the situation and felt able to sit up. He helped her rise, and turned her body so her back was against his front. That way if anything happened, he would still be right there to catch her. She rested her head against his shoulder and turned her face into his neck.

"What happened?"

"You hit your head. I'm afraid I was a bit rough with you when I teleported in and then you tried to break John and I up from fighting and he grazed you with a punch aimed for me."

She hummed as her brain began to process. "How long?"

He rolled his lip between his teeth, he really didn't want to answer that, but she would have a better idea if it was normal or not than he did. "Probably for about six or seven hours. You came around a few times in there, but didn't stay for long."

"I don't remember anything after John teleporting into my bedroom."

"Well you're making more sense this time around so maybe you'll stick with me in this world for a bit." He was grinning and she chuckled lightly against him pressing her face further into his damp skin.

Then she remembered something. A flash of light, John was underneath her, naked. "Will—I…I'm so sorry."

He knew then that she had remembered something more. "It's ok," he brushed fingers through her wet hair and kissed her temple. "It's ok, it's not like we discussed anything."

"Still, I shouldn't have. I should have been able… it was as if I couldn't control myself." She took his hands that were gripping her hips and wrapped their fingers together, bringing them to encircle her body. She closed her eyes and rested her head back. "There was Nikola too." Will tensed his shoulders, the center of chest constricting like two five hundred pound weights were smooshing him. "I thought you were dead. The teleport, it wasn't a nature teleport. It was…it was like when Ashley…" She let the sentence trail off, knowing he would understand what she was saying. "Then the urge was overwhelming. It took over my entire being. I've never felt that way before."

Her head turned until her lips could brush against his. Will leaned forward slightly, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers, but still keeping his grasp on her body light. Her tongue dashed out to taste him; his flavor was sweet with a hidden spice that surprised her every time she did this. It was so unexpected. She sighed into him, her body relaxed, the waters worked wonders on her sore and weary muscles. The embrace was tender and gentle, seeking comfort rather than arousal. It was the first time she had kissed him like this. She had wanted to for so very long, but so many circumstances had prevented.

The caress slowed and she slid away from him dipping under the water to brush her hair over her face again. She knew where they were, but she had no idea why he had brought her here. Of all places, this was the last she had ever expected to be brought to by him. She leaned against another large rock, her back resting on the cool surface so she could watch him. Will had joined her in the water and ducked his head under the surface to completely wet his body. He walked over to her; his feet squishing in the soft silt at the bottom of the pond and feeling it slide through his toes and over his skin. It was such a weird and yet somehow soothing sensation. He kissed her lips gently and then her forehead, leaning into the rock and her body; he reveled in the feeling of her skin on his.

Fingers from her hand brushed down his chest, her lip was pulled between her teeth and she let it pop out while contemplating whether or not to broach the subject. "Will, why'd you bring me here?"

"The water."

"Is that the only reason?" Her eyes drifted up to his face then, she wanted to be sure he knew he could talk to her.

"Of course, what other reason would there be?"

There was a soft breath that passed her lips as the disbelief washed through her. "You don't want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

She couldn't tell at this point, if he was being purposefully daft of just extremely avoidant of the situation. "This is where your mother died, Will. You can't honestly think that I wouldn't recognize it did you?"

"No, but I could hope you wouldn't bring it up." He turned away from her as he spoke walking back to the rock he had previously resided on and sat down again. The water was still over his waist. With his back curved and his face down trodden she couldn't help but feel guilty about bringing up the subject.

She moved back to him then; it was a dance that they always seemed to be playing from the day she had first met him in this forest all those years ago. The sadness from him was stinging behind her eyes and high in her chest. She let her moist fingers brush his cheek and the tear drop that fell from his corner of his eye. "She was a strong and wonderful woman, Will. She loved you so much."

He sniffed, "I know." His hand clasped hers as it flitted over his cheek and he pressed it firmly to his scruffy skin. His eyes closed and he used the moment and the feel of soft skin on skin to bolster against the emotions and memories that were flooding his brain. Helen could hear the soft tunes of a lullaby on the wind as an image of the woman in question smiled down on her. It was his memory and she was fairly certain he had not meant to share it. Her hand was mimicking his mothers on his cheek some thirty years later. She felt like she was invading his privacy, like she was a peeping tom on a very personal and sacred moment. She needed to make him stop; she needed to change his line of thought.

Pressing a kind and mildly hungry mouth against his she closed her eyes and tried to force his emotions from her body. She tried to cleanse herself from the terrible loss of his mother and the impact that it was having on him. She wished, somewhere in the back of her mind and only for a quick fleeting moment that this empathy he was exhibiting worked both ways. She would want to share the loss of her own mother, of her father, of Ashley. Then she took it back. She had too much loss for him to handle. Her tongue was rolling around his, coaxing his mind to follow his body into her softly cascading waves as they brushed against the shoreline of calmness and reverence. She couldn't ever expect him to go through what she had, she could never expect that of anyone, or anyone to even come close to understanding.

She broke away from him rather suddenly and moved to find her clothes. Her body was lifted out of the hot springs and Will watched as rivulets of water trailed over the slight curve of her skin. "You're beautiful." He whispered it aloud, not intending for her to hear, but he saw the flush creep up her skin rushing over her shoulders and down her back to her bottom. It was a full body blush and Will could not have been more in love with her in that moment.

They dressed quickly and sat at the base of a large tree, the same one that they had sat at before all those years before. Only this time he was a man and he was the one holding her. "We have to go back you know."

Once the words were out of her mouth he felt the anger begin in his toes again. He didn't want to go back. Going back meant that John would be there, that Nikola would be taunting as always and that she would be surrounded by her work and the abnormals that she always put over and above him. "I don't want to go back."

"Well we can't very well stay here." She tried her best to tamp down the rage that was, oddly, coming from her toes. Normally when Helen became angry it burst forth and ripped at the seams in the center of her forehead, right between her eyes. This was different though, and she was having much more difficulty keeping the unbidden anger in check. "We need to go back. John and Nikola will no doubt be wondering where you've taken me off to and I need to continue my work."

"It's always about that with you isn't it." He shoved her forward and away from him so he could stand and pace in a straight and short line. "It's always about your work, your life, you and the five. Well what about me, Magnus? Do I not mean anything to you?"

"How dare you ask such a question?" She rose to her feet and swayed as soon as she was fully upright. Will reached in to grasp her elbows, but she ripped her body away from him and collided into the tree, using the rough trunk for support. "Don't touch me." The order was issued violently and quietly, her voice not leaving room for rebuke.

"I don't mean anything to you! The only reason you're paying attention to me now is because now I'm an abnormal."

Her voice rose in response to his agitation. "That is not the only reason Will. I won't deny that it has a certain arousing factor and I think that has far more to do with your abilities than you actually being an abnormal, but that is not the only reason. And it's not as if you're completely free of that accusation either." She shoved her body off the bark and moved towards him. "You follow me around like a lost puppy. Like I'm a goddess on some pedestal. Honestly, Will, you all but fall on your knees and worship the ground I walk on."

He was nose to nose with her in a second flat. His fist gripping her elbows so tightly she knew she would bruise. "You…are not perfect." His mouth crushed down on hers as he teleported them to a dank and humid rainforest. Their teeth clashed together and he felt a small slice on the inside of his lip after she pulled back and away from him. She punched him in the gut before she turned to stalk as far away from him as she could go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder about the reviews and the donations! So far only trying this in June, if it doesn't work out it won't happen again so please please please make it work! ~~Arones


	6. Red Courage

"Helen!" He started to chase after her as she moved faster. Obviously their clothes were not deemed for this kind of environment because she had discarded her stilettos and was making barefoot ad a rapid pace through the leaves and brambles of the rainforest. "Helen, stop!" He tried again. She continued to give chase. Giving up he teleported right in front of her and gripped her upper arms tightly. "Stop it."

"You had no right to say that Will. Do you honestly think that's all I see?"

"Most of the time. Yeah." He confessed. "It was the whole, entire reason I went down the lab that night. I wasn't thinking that much is obvious but can you really deny that you see nothing other than abnormal when you look at me?" He transformed then, to better make his point. His skin was slick, his tongue split when it dashed out on his lips. She felt his heart pounding in his throat and understood that just about his entire being rested on what she did next. This empathic ability of his was coming in quite handy and it was far stronger when he was in this form than when human. He released her arm and slid his hand from her hip, up her side and to her breast. Helen had a distinct memory flash through her age addled brain. It was of John, pinning her against the wall in the study. London, 1898. Knife pressed against her through, her heart beat caught in her throat and the tension permeable and tangible.

She shoved off and away from him, her eyes wildly seeking at cover she could find and her body reacting so instinctively that she couldn't control her movements more than she could control a violent abnormal in her SHU. He was moving after her again, calling her name and she was barely registering the panic in his voice.

Feet were pounding on the moist ground; he'd forgotten to put his shoes on and was trotting barefoot through the rainforest. He stepped on something sharp and fell to the ground in pain crying out as he went down. Helen stopped for a second, her eyes rolling as she turned back to see him injured. "Every time," she muttered heavily under her breath. She moved back to him and looked pulled his foot aggressively into her lap as she sat down next to him. She ran her fingers over his calf until she could push up his pant leg. There, just above his ankle she found to puncture marks and a swelling redness that was vastly and swiftly spreading. "Damn it, Will."

"What?" He tried to look down at his leg but she prevented him from seeing the injury.

"You need to take us back to the Sanctuary. Right now."

"Why?"

"William. I need you to listen to me this time." She cupped his cheek and although her words were forceful and demanding they were said with a quiet and reserved sense of worry and panic. He sensed the panic and she felt the excruciating pain shoot up to his thigh. "Do it, we need to get there now."

He nodded and took them to the small room that he had left previously. It was the only room that he could remember and she was thankful that it was so close to the infirmary. She hefted him with her shoulder and started to walk him down to the room. Once they had arrived she thrust him onto a bed and swiftly moved to the medicine cabinet where she kept everything. She grabbed a glass vial after searching through a few and finding the one that she wanted. She injected him in his shoulder and gently brushed him backwards onto the bed. He cringed when another hot lick of fiery pain shot through his body. Helen followed suit soon after when a second one hit.

"It shouldn't be long now. With the added genome binder in your blood this shouldn't take as long to have effect." Her finger were brushing a repeated rhythm over his sweat riddled forehead, her hip resting against his leg while he clutched her hand when another flare of pain licked around him. It was almost exactly one hour from the time that they had arrived when he fell asleep, the pain slowly subsiding. Helen lifted his pant leg again and checked the wound; the red puffy skin had stopped spreading and she was sure that the anti-venom had finally taken full effect. She kissed his forehead and lips gingerly before taking her leave and exiting the room.

Nikola and John were in wait on the other side of the door. They had been standing there for the better part of the hour and had decided to not intervene. "Helen," Nikola's dry whine hit her full force, when she looked up John had grabbed each of them by the arm and teleported them to Nikola's lab where he and the vampire had decided to take her.

Helen broke away from the two of them as soon as she could and shoved John backwards. "What were you thinking? Honestly, John, these antics must stop." Her voice rang in the silence of the room. She looked around, discovered that she hadn't been taken far and sought to tamp down the anger that was rising in the pit of her stomach.

"Where have you been? Were you harmed?"

"I'm fine, John. Not that it's any of your concern." She desperately wanted to cross her arms over her chest, but she resisted the urge knowing that he would see it as a sign of her defensiveness against his questioning. "Why have you brought me here?"

John looked to Nikola who decided to answer. "You were kidnapped, Helen. We wanted to be sure you were alright."

"I was not kidnapped Nikola, honestly stop overreacting. It was Will; do you really think he could do anything so rash?"

Again, the two men exchanged knowing looks. "You were completely unconscious when you left." John spoke, his overwhelming concern setting her on edge.

"I'm fine." She crossed the room and began to clean up the equipment. She had to do something and anything was better than standing there getting the third degree on her exploits for the last day. "Is there something that you needed to discuss or could I please get back to my patient?"

"Helen you've been gone for weeks with no word. We were worried." Nikola spoke, his eyes not wavering from her body.

She spun around then, her hands planted behind her on the desk and her body leaning back. "That's absurd; I haven't even been gone for more than twenty-four hours." She looked at John for confirmation in what Nikola was saying. She saw only truth. She took a deep breath. "Weeks?"

"Sixteen days."

"I swear to you it has not been that long."

"Perhaps he can teleport through time." John looked to Nikola for confirmation. Helen watched the two of them. They were talking like they hadn't in decades, in centuries for her. It was odd and once again setting her nerves on edge. She didn't like this new closeness between them.

"Not impossible, though Johnny, I'd believe he could do it if you could do it."

John resisted rolling his eyes. "Perhaps I can and have not shared that information with you."

"Oh posh, you would have told us. Or Helen at least."

Her mind was still reeling from the fact that she had been gone for sixteen days. Then she looked up at John, her eyes wide. "If we teleported into the future, then are there not two of us here now?"

"Helen?" She saw the recognition in his eyes: the moment where he realized that this was not the first time she had dealt with this type of situation. "The alleyway? London?"

"Leave it alone, John."

"That's why you were so different. That's why…Helen," his voice softened considerably. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"This is neither the time nor the place." She brushed passed him and made her way to the infirmary, both men close on her heels. She shook the sleeping man on the bed awake and grasped his hand. "Will, I need you to take us back to exactly where and when we were before." His reply was garbled to the point where she couldn't understand him. "Will?"

"Mmmhmmm." He rolled onto his side and peeked one eye open to look at her. She was beautiful. His second eye became visible and he looked her over. Her hair that was still damp and cascading down her back and shoulders over her chest. Her blouse that was unbuttoned enough for him to see the line of her cleavage. His sight traveled further down to her hands that were tensing in her lap. He reached out and hefted a weighted hand onto hers. He attempted to squeeze her fingers but failed. Still, she understood and gave him a wan smile.

"Did you hear me, Will?"

"Yeah." He cleared his throat and teleported them. They arrived back in the rainforest. She looked to the sun and the clouds which had changed little from their departure.

"Good." She cupped his face again and set him against the tree. "I'll be back. I'm going to get some water." She left him with a kiss to his cheek to return rather quickly with a large leaf curved to hold some water. "Here, drink up." She pressed the edge of the green to his lips and let his tongue dash out to taste the moist droplets on the plant. He sighed and leaned forward wanting more.

They waited another hour in silence, Helen giving him small drinks of water every few minutes or so and running her free hand over his body in a soothing rhythm for both. He was finally waking up and functioning, he turned and kissed her neck gently. Helen smiled. "Feeling better?"

He nodded, "Yeah, kind of."

"What do you mean?"

"Physically… physically I feel better." He took a deep breath. "Hungry."

"We don't have any food. I can see if I can find something." She felt the stab from her toes up to the pit of her stomach. She knew that feeling all too well. It had been the same feeling when she had been speaking with John and Nikola. "Will," there was a moment of panic before he turned his face to look at her. Their eyes locking, his red and sparking with rage and hers blue an ocean of water attempting to stave off the reaction. He stood and grabbed her hand dragger her further into the forest until he found exactly what it was he wanted.

There it was, high in the trees jumping from branch to branch. His nostrils caught the scent before his eyes could make out the shadowy form. Helen noticed the creature after he did, and only realized that's what he was after when the pleasure at chasing his prey bubbled high in her chest and forced her to rapidly and very willingly follow him.

They made their way around large tree trunks and through the brush until the creature bounded down to the small stream that she had found earlier and where she had gotten the water for him to drink. Will turned to her then and grasped her face tightly in his heated webbed hands. He kissed her passionately and she felt the question he desired to ask. She nodded and moved toward the creature on silent feet, Will watching her from his stationary position. She kneeled down and picked up the sharp rock that was resting next to a tree, the very trunk the camouflage abnormal had crawled down. She hefted the rock up and positioned it silently gliding a bit more forward. The creature was drinking from the river, this back to her when she swung down the rock and bashed its head in.


	7. Blood Red

When the stone fell down for the third or fifth time, she didn't know she had lost count, the blood spattered back into her face and she felt the droplets slide down her skin. She dashed her tongue out and tasted the iron on the back of her tongue where the flavor seemed to spread and take over the rest of her senses. She could feel the happiness, the serenity and pleasure in Will as she turned to face him and beckoned him over to join her. She couldn't believe what she was doing. Killing a completely innocent life of a sacred abnormal, but there was nothing that could stop her. There was nothing that could overpower the need and immediate hatred that she felt towards the creature. It was as if something had taken over her very being and no matter how hard her mind and intellect fought against the base desire that was driving her, the craving won out.

Will was giving her one of the biggest grins she had ever seen grace his features. She couldn't stop herself from smiling back at him. It was literally as if her mind stopped working and she could only function on emotion and basic need. He leaned in and pressed his lips hard against hers and Helen pressed back moaning while his tongue licked the blood clean off her face. She took her hand and dipped it into the brain matter that was oozing out of the head of the creature, her fingers wiped across his neck before following the red streak with her mouth. Her stomach rejected the flavor on instinct before suddenly rejoicing in being fed.

She was hungry. It was just as he had described. Hungry for the violence. Hungry for the blood. Whether he said it in so many words or not was a different story, but this was exactly how she knew he felt. Every time she had flashed to him when they'd been separated, this was exactly what she felt and it was so much better in person. Her fingers were shoved into his mouth and Will was forced to suckle the remaining bodily fluids off her.

Lips smacked together when her fingers were released and he dove for her neck shoving her backwards onto the dead creature. The blood seeped into her dark locks, wetting them and congealing the strands together like sticky sugar. His teeth dug deep into her skin and Helen groaned at the sudden pain that seared through her body. She forced her body not to scrunch into the feeling to try and rid the sensation from her nerves. She wanted to feel it. She wanted to be turned on like this. He licked the fresh blood her body spilt forth while his hands roamed downward and onto her legs.

The knife was pressed against her leg right where he knew he would find it. Slowly pulling it out and away from her he pressed the sharp edge of the blade to her skin, just on the underside of the left part of her chin. Helen watched his eyes carefully, knowing that he would never hurt her. His split tongue dipped out and hotly caressed her tight-lined lips that she was biting together. She felt his surge of pleasure at her compliance. Taking the knife in his hands he ran it over her clothes and sliced off all the material. She lay completely bare to him. Will sat back on his knees and admired her pale and beautiful, her unmarred flesh. It wasn't going to be that way for long.

He slipped the metal into her skin, parting the cells until a small stream of blood rose to the ridge he created. Leaning down he breathed in the scent, his nostrils pulling together as the air rushed into his lungs. She felt his satisfaction, and she bit her lip when he started a second line from her sternum down to her naval. Over the ridge at the bottom of her breasts was the most painful point, and her back arched while a cry was threatening to rip from her throat. This time, when the blood elevated onto her pale flesh his tongue dipped out, the two tips parting and separating so he could spread the red over the white.

Suddenly he rose up and jabbed the knife into the side of the creature, where the heart was located. Liquid began to spill forth but he caught it with a cupped hand. He brought the blood to her and began to drop a steady stream onto her skin. The droplets plopped down and splashed back up creating a pattern of rainfall and paint on canvass that was utterly random and stunning. She was breathing heavily when he smeared his fingers over her slightly pouched abdomen and down over her mound. Before she could register the move, the blade was present at her lips and Will began to shave away the pubic hair that he found.

With each knick and slice he accidentally made she moaned and writhed against him, only succeeding in further damaging her labia and defacing her skin. He was breathing against her ear hotly, the weight of his chest pressing down into her to the point where she wasn't able to breathe. He didn't wait long enough, she wanted him to stay put but he moved back down her body sinking teeth into the inside of her thighs until blood dripped and trailed down her body. The electricity stabbed through her nerves and then she felt the startling cold against her hot and naked body. Looking around she saw white. Pure white snow.

Her dark locks were fanned out around her head and her nipples rose immediately. The blood cascaded off the curves of her form and fell onto the untainted ground below. Will sat back on his haunches quite enjoying the contrast in colors that he had created. The pleasure and self-satisfaction was bubbling from him and into her. Helen's body shuddered and Will morphed back into his human form. He was leaning over her body again, the knife thrown to the side. "My Helen," he was breathing heavily into her ear and her heart started to pound hard against her ribcage. "Where have you been all these years?" He ran a hand down her body. Helen felt a desperate cold seep up her spinal cord, a feeling of dread and fear. This was never something she had felt with Will.

"Stop it." She whispered the words quietly and his eyes lighted with excitement at her response.

"Darling, haven't you missed me?"

She could barely breathe because her heart was clenching so tightly, her chest was drawn in on itself and her eyes were riveted to his face. "Will, stop it. This instant."

Will shook his head and looked at her again, his eyes softened. "Sorry, I…I don't know." He moved closer to her then and took her lips gently and carefully. He waited until he felt her body relax once again before he began to strip himself. She didn't wait until he had his pants undone before pulling them down herself and flipping them so that he was pressed into the snow bank they were laid in. She dragged her fingers down his chest leaving red welts with blood rushing to the surface to bruise in her wake. The dead skin was piled under the pale crescents until she was able flick away the chunks. Helen bit into his chest on the outsides of the rivers of red she had left before. Her teeth sinking into him, but she pulled back before any of the metallic liquid was spilt. He was hard against her inner leg and she was having a hard time controlling herself any further. She clambered up his body to position herself over him. Will grasped his aching penis and held it still and straight while she thrust downward onto his body. Both moaned coinciding on a released breath.

Will's hand rubbed against her, his motions following her up and down rhythm. She was clenching as she lifted up and letting go as she settled back down. She was close. He knew it. She was close before he had brought her here, but the cold had tamped her down. "My Helen, beautiful as always."

The chill was creeping back up her spine, but she ignored it. Focused solely on the pleasure that everything in the moment was bringing her, she wanted to feel the moment that she was no longer in control of everything. When her mind would stop working even if it was just for a second as her body contracted around him; that was where she wanted to be, and she was damned close to it. He pinched he one last time and she was there.

The words that fell from his lips went unheard in the first moment as the build-up of heat left her body and she began to slip away from the high they had created. But when he turned her back over, twisted her body onto her stomach and lifted her hips in the air, her butt raised him and his dick pounding in and out of her the words were very much heard and understood. "Whore. Bitch. Domineering. Unclean. Unworthy." She let him finish. Let his hands bruise her hips. She felt disgusted with herself and with him. She knew exactly what was going on.

Slowly she rolled over onto her back and looked up at him, the moments stretched out to seem like hours but she knew they hadn't. With the cold there was no way they had been there long than half an hour otherwise both their bodies would be shaking with the bone-chilling freeze. "Take me home, Will." He nodded and teleported them into her bedroom. He had only been in there once since he had been introduced to the new sanctuary she had built on her vacation but he would never forget it. They were lying on her bed, Helen looking at him, judging him. He slid his hand up her bare side before grasping her jaw and turning her face to him sharping and taking her mouth. "My Helen." He whispered it again.

She indulged him, kissing him back tenderly softening the mood from the passionate violence they had experienced in whatever cold snowy place he had brought them. She was half lying on top of him, her body warm and pressed against his when she pulled back to speak. "Will," she stopped and softly ran hands over his naked chest. "Would you like to try something?" He nodded. "Hold still." She stood and moved to her closet coming back with rope. He grinned at her and stretched his arms up. She tied him tightly and securely to the bed.

Lips were pressed back down onto him and Will bucked up playing into the roles that she was so cleverly creating. Helen sat back, her hands in her lap and her lip pulled tightly between her teeth. She watched him carefully and Will's brow furrowed in confusion. "What's going on? Helen?" The whine in his soft tones was back, the curiosity was there. It was his voice. It was her Will, the man she had hired all those years ago to work with her, alongside her. Yet it wasn't him. Against he pressed against him, the embrace lasting for minutes on end. He was sighing into her again when she finally moved away standing and dressing. "What is this?" He was so confused. One minute she was all over him and then next she was walking away.

"I'm so sorry. But it's for your own good, Jack."


	8. Red Jealousy

Helen stalked around the man. "Stay still." She moved to the bathroom and came back with cloth and bowl. She began to clean the blood from Will; her body leaning over him was sore from his onslaught yet firm in its movements. He did not struggle against the restraints, but rather watched her carefully. Once he was clean, Helen began to dribble the water over her own body. Leaning back and letting the trails of water slide down her breasts to her legs tracking the blood in its stead.

Will's eyes were riveted and his breathing started to intensify coming in short gasps. Once she was clean, Helen set the bowl on the bedside table and leaned over his form, her lips impossibly close to his. "Are you here, Will?" He nodded. She pressed against him, their lips rubbing together, her fingers trailing up his ribs to cup his cheek while her tongue circled around his. It was slow and sensual, long and tender; she took her time making sure nothing was left undone. "Wait for me here, I want to dress." She pecked his lips quickly and moved to her closet pulling out a slim pair of slacks, a camisole and jacket to match. Slipping the clothing onto her body she watched as Will rested his eyes. John would find her soon, he always did. It was just a matter of time.

Pulling the throw from the bottom of the bed and draping it over Will's body she curled against his side and began to drift off into sleep. "Rest now, love." Her leg was wrapped over his, her arm over his chest and her face was buried deeply into his neck. Both fell into a slumber, her lightly and him deeply.

It must have been only twenty minutes before John slipped into the room. His head bowed at the sight before him, the woman he loved lying with another man. Had the energy being still been within him the pain would not have been so deep. He would have become angry and ripped her from the bed. But all he could do now was stare at the beautiful woman before him, sleeping lazily with a man who did not deserve her. He sighed heavily and walked on silent feet to her sleeping form. Brushing fingers over her forehead and sliding the hair behind her ear he watched as she slowly woke from her sleep. He didn't speak; he reached down and pressed soft lips to her forehead and beckoned her with his eyes to exit the room.

Slowly and carefully she extracted herself from Will's motionless form, ignoring the raised eyebrow from John when he saw the ropes holding him to the bedposts. Helen shook her head and grabbed John's arm pulling him out of the room. "Where's Nikola?"

"The labs."

"We need to talk. Radio?" John shook his head in response. She moved to her office which was closer and called Henry's lab hoping for an answer. When he picked up her heart slowed its beat, "Henry, turn on the EM shield; find Kate and send her to my rooms. Will is not to leave them."

"Yeah, got it Doc. Everything ok?"

She shared a look with Druitt before shaking her head. "We'll see. I'll be with Nikola if you need me."

As they were walking down the hall John stopped her, a soft hand on her upper arm until she looked up at him. "Helen, are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." She turned to move again, but he halted her. Their eyes locked and it seemed ages before she spoke. "What is it, John?"

"I'm just worried for you is all." His hand reached to cup her cheek and her head tilted back, her eyes flicking shut. He breathed in deeply taking her compliance as an invitation and kissing her gently. Helen parted her lips, the taste of him sweet and sour spilling between her mouth as old memories surfaced of each time he had kissed her this way. It had been many times throughout their courtship, but his kisses had turned harsh and left her wanting of the gentle and stoic John she had once known. "I love you."

"I know, John." She pressed a hand to his warm chest and moved his body that was tilted and hovering over hers away. "I don't love you back. I never could again." Her eyes latched onto his face and watched his features fall. "Too much has come to pass." She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek before setting off down the hallway.

"He doesn't deserve you."

Her head bowed slightly and her motion paused. She showed her face slightly, her eyes sad and her heart heavy. "And I don't deserve him." She waited a beat before continuing. "Come, we need to find Nikola, he has a solution to all this I'm sure of it."

John followed her dutifully until they reached the lab where Tesla was holed up. She walked into the room to find him hovering over some equipment or another that Henry would no doubt be complaining about in a few weeks. He had wine glass in hand and a tool in his other. He dipped the tool down to press against some wires and smiled at the small shock that shook through his fingers at the contact. She cleared her throat to get his attention. His eyes slid over her form and sent shivers up her spine: she had done so much damage this week, to all of them. She was pulled out of her reverie when he spoke. "Helen, so good to see you again. Have a good honeymoon?"

She took a breath completely bypassing any ideas that she had of speaking to him on another matter, particularly with John present and in his current mood. "Nikola, the invention…the one you'd planned to use on John. Do you still have it?" She wanted an answer fast.

"Aren't we demanding? And what has Johnny got to say of it? Hmmm?"

She shifted her footing and leaned against the counter her finger stopping his from playing with the machine in front of him. "It's not for him."

Nikola took a slow sip of wine, his face studying her before flicking back to John and judging his reaction. "Ah, for the young concubine then. Figures he would contract the disease of Jack the Ripper. What is it you would have me do with it then?"

"Use it." Her voice was forceful and commanding.

He was quick to answer. "I told you, Helen. I would not use it if he was not willing."

"Since when have you had a conscience?"

"Nikola…" John's voice was low and daring as it had once been. He had remained quiet until that point, but the vampire knew that without the energy being the man would be mostly harmless compared to him. Helen, on the other hand, could easily kill him if she put her mind to it.

"Alright, alright. Just give me a few hours to finish it up and get it running. But, be warned, there is no way to test it. He could die."

Helen nodded her head solemnly and shifted out of the room. He would find her when he was ready. John again followed her and she was glad of it; she had more she needed to tell him. She could feel Will beginning to wake and it was doubtful that without her there he would remain calm. "John…"

"Yes, love?"

She ignored his added endearment, "Before Will left with you he instigated a sort of empathic bond between him and I. I need you to understand this. When he wakes I don't know if I will be able to control myself any more than he can control himself."

There was a flutter in John's chest. If this was all part of an empathic bond then she could very easily still love him and want to be with him. "Empathic…is this both ways then?"

"No, only from him to me. Once he awakens I cannot guarantee that I won't do anything irrational." He nodded and brushed his hand out in front of them to let her lead the way. She did so, her heels clacking on the floor in a quick rhythm, her heart in her throat and her stomach dropping every few seconds. This would be painful for both of them she was sure. If she could feel everything he felt then his imminent death from whatever it was Tesla invented would not be pleasant and she was sure she would know exactly how it felt. Not that she hadn't died before; but each time she remembered it was far from a good experience.

She dismissed Kate to go help Henry in whatever he was doing and left her in charge while she would be dealing with other matters. Will had most definitely awoken and was not pleased to see her escort. "What is he doing here?" The vehemence in his voice went straight to her core, the tingles beginning in her toes jarring her back into reality.

"I asked him to come." She sat on the bed and stroked his arms gently. They must be tired from being strung up for so long a time.

Will answered with clenched teeth and a glare that even John couldn't ignore. "He doesn't need to be here."

She ignored his discomfort and leaned down pressing lips to his. "Are you feeling alright? No pain in your shoulders?"

Will shook his head and she moved to kiss him again. He deepened it holding her to him by sheer desire and emotion. His tongue slipped around her mouth and her heart began to beat rapidly. Her hands moved to clutch his hips and hold her body upright while her chest moved against his when she breathed in. Their mouths made illustrious sounds that John could hear from his position in the doorway. He wanted to move his head away but he could not draw his eyes from their melded form on the mattress. He wished for the anger than had once beseeched him to take action and the release that it would give.

The groan could have come from either of them, but John was sure it was from her. It was something he had long since remembered and had once been the only one to emit such a glorious sound from her throat. He watched as her fingers casually slipped down the young man's chest and her eyes shut.

It was when she reached his naval that she saw her hands then on the computer, the codes being pushed into the keys. She knew what he wanted. Standing and wiping her lipstick that had smeared from her mouth with two fingers she looked over at John who was staring intently at the two of them. "I'll be right back." She whispered it down to the man lying below her before rising and gliding to the door. "Stay with him, I'll only be a moment."

John nodded and Helen felt Will's desperate need for her to hurry. He was frightened by the man she was leaving him with and the harm that he could so easily do. She moved to her office and pulled up the computer programing. Slipping in her code just as the rage took her stomach she took down the EM shield that was blocking them in. She waited by leaning against her desk as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She knew that Will would know when the time was right and sure enough he stood clad with the throw before her in a few seconds. "Helen."

Her eyes moved over him saucily and hungrily. It was so much better not having an audience and she was sure he wouldn't disagree with her. "Take me to London."


	9. Red Flag

They landed in the front entry hall of the London Sanctuary, which was exactly where she wanted to be. She didn't wait before tugging the blanket down and ravishing his mouth. Will had her jacket and blouse off before she could work her way down to her knees. She was at the perfect height to bring him fully into her mouth. Grasping him tightly she swished her hand up and down his length until he hardened against her palm. Will dragged his hands through her dark locks and tangled the ends tightly around his fingers.

He wanted her. Instead of listening to his need as he thrust his hips forward she moved to the inside of his thigh and bit down hard. She wiggled her teeth back and forth knowing that he would bruise and hoping to dig her teeth in far enough to taste blood. Finally, on her second bite at the same area she tasted what she so desired. The sweet metallic flavor took over the edges of her tongue, her taste buds reveling in the moment.

Will's body tilted into hers but she held him tightly with her palms against his legs, just above his knees. He would not falter on her watch. When she moved to the other leg, Will ripped her up by her hair until she was standing before her. "Strip. Now." She did as she was told sliding the slacks over her hips and down her body, soon followed by her undergarments and the heels. She was now inches shorter than him and awaiting his next order. When he didn't give it she smirked.

"Make me come, Will. Fuck me."

"With pleasure." Before she could utter another word, or a response to his snarky comment he thrust two fingers inside of her, his thumb rubbing hard at her clit. He shoved her back and against the wall, her head colliding with such a force as to dent the plaster behind her. She grunted in response but held her ground when he raised her leg over his hip to give him better access. Her cries were becoming louder with each thrust of his fingers into her body. He so had not pegged her for a screamer, but then again rarely were they ever alone.

With each hit of her back against the wall she huffed out a breath. "Harder. Will, harder." He gritted his teeth to satisfy her as best he could. He felt her crest over the wave of orgasm, her muscles clenching around her fingers and her voice ringing out into the empty entry hall, echoing off the walls and down the long hallway. She grinned and started to giggle when he slipped her body down the wall to land on the previously discarded throw blanket on the stone floor. She kissed him loudly before nipping her way down his body.

She found his cock and licked him gently. Her fingers slipped below to the still slowly bleeding wound and trailed in the blood. It was his turn. She made random swirling designs from his groin up to his abdomen, taking her time as the pattern came to fruition. She grinned and took his nipple between her teeth pulling back hard. Her heart was racing and her chest moving rapidly. "Somewhere else." She bit down hard and Will cried out, his back arching from the pain. But almost as quick as the sound left his lips he recoiled back, trying to focus on the pain that would soon turn to pleasure. "Take me somewhere else." She felt the electricity run through her body as he teleported them.

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Kate had called an impromptu meeting in Nikola's labs as he was still working on the device that Magnus had requested him to complete. She was sitting on the edge of the lab bench; her legs dangling over the sides moving back and forth while the nervous energy worked off her body.

"It's been two days." She waited for a response and there was none. They had all known how long the two of them had been gone. They had all known how many minutes had ticked by since Magnus had deactivated the EM shield and allowed their escape. Henry had locked himself in the security lab trying to find a way around Magnus' systems for their impending return. Druitt had stalked around the empty halls glaring at anyone who dared look at him and Kate was up to her neck in work just trying to keep afloat. "Two days!" She practically shouted it this time.

The response she got was calm and barely acknowledging. "I know." Nikola gave it while fiddling yet again with yet another machine.

"That's not normal for her."

"I know." He cursed as the wires began to burn and fuse together. That was the problem. He couldn't get the wiring to work where this wouldn't happen or overload the entire machine when the energy being would be transferred into it.

Kate looked to Henry for help but the HAP just shrugged watching the vampire work, which was always a learning experience. "Well I for one am not going to sit around and wait for them to come back."

"And what do you plan on doing? Gallivanting around trying to find a location on whim? Hmmm?" John spoke up from his corner. He did have a valid point. With Will's teleportation skills she had no way of locating them.

"Well how do you find Magnus all the time?"

"That, my dear girl, takes years of practice, talent and a bit of luck. However, if she doesn't want to be found, she will not be found."

Kate huffed a breath. "Well we can't just sit here and do nothing."

"We're not doing nothing," Henry decided to finally chime in. "Tesla's working on the machine and we're waiting for them to come back and running everything while they're gone."

The woman was almost to the point of pouting. "That isn't right. If it were any one of us and the Doc was in our position…she would be out looking for us day and night."

No one spoke. The argument had little way in a counter-argument because it was certainly almost a true fact or statement. "Are you done?" Nikola shooed her off his counter and picked up a small piece of metal that was sitting behind her bum. "Go and look for the woman if you want. If you find her I'll give you a prize." He took a long drag from his wine glass and smirked. "A good one." His eyebrows rose and she scowled at him in response.

"Druitt, would you mind helping?"

The man looked from one person to the next in the room. He made his decision quickly and grabbed the young woman's arm taking them away leaving the HAP and the Vamp beside themselves. Each exchanged a look before turning back to their own projects and continuing in their work.

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She landed; her back hard against a desk and Will was already inside her, hard and pounding deep. He wasn't going to come this time, he knew it. He wanted her to come again. He pinched her clit and twisted hard, her body reeled up against him and he pushed her back down. Her back collided with something sharp and awkward causing her lower back to be raised farther up than her shoulders. Her head was unsupported and was off the edge of the desk, her locks getting tangled in the drawer that was opening and closing from the force of his movements into her.

The letter opener ended up in his hands and he held it against the white column of her throat. He pulled at her clit and let it snap back into place before doing it again. There was a sharp edge to the opener and he cut a line down her abdomen until he could lick up the spilled blood. He lapped it while pulling at her clit once again. "God, Will." Her throat was quiet and raspy, as if she had been screaming for hours and could no longer catch her breath. "Again, do it again." Her demand was all he needed and this time, when he pulled on her clit he brushed the pad of his thumb along the skin and once again felt her muscles clench down around him.

He slowly helped her to stand and rubbed her back where he knew the awkward office item had been digging into her skin. She curled into his side and pressed soft kisses to his neck and cheek before looking around the dark office. "Jesus Will, the oval office? Really?" He grinned sheepishly and shrugged before teleporting them away. It wasn't until they landed that she spoke again. "At least you had the decency to blush." She chuckled at the larger blush crept over his skin. She was full-out laughing but the time he had had her on the carpeted floor pinned under his body.

She smiled and pulled a lip between her teeth. "Not this time William." She rolled their bodies until she was seated atop him. She pressed a hand to his throat and watched as the circulation cut off and he began to have difficulty breathing. Helen grinned to herself when his breathing became ragged and desperate, but his hands didn't move to her wrists. She waited for any sign to tell her that she needed to stop, to pull back and let the oxygen into his lungs. A little lift of his hand as it dropped back to the ground was all that she needed to let go. He gasped in air before her lips locked on his and her tongue pressed into his mouth. He was still writhing for air while she was only slowly letting it back into him.

His head was spinning and his vision completely blurred but it was the best sensation he had ever experienced. The lack of oxygen made his body feel like it was flowing inches above the ground and his head spinning lazily. When she bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood he shoved her off and back onto the ground. She cried out as the wind was knocked from her lungs, but grinned as soon as she regained balance. He was learning well.

Pushing up to her arms she once again straddled him. Her nails raked down his body leaving wide welts in the flesh. Her mouth followed, biting hard until bruises could be seen seconds after she left his skin with a pronounced pop. He was still hard against her from before and she held him still so she could slam down on him.

Not paying mind to her own pleasure she moved up and down on him, her body slamming as hard as she could against his hips letting their bones grind together through the skin to create friction, pain and pleasure. He wasn't going to last long at all this time, his body taut from her onslaught as he spilled into her. Helen groaned at the heat that ran into her body. She fell down and curled away from him. Will turned and spooned up behind her tossing an arm under her head and one over her belly.

"Mumbai?" She could feel him shrug.

"Good memories."

"Not what I would call them."

"Well good memories for after, then."


	10. Red Wings

It took four days for them to make their way to the old London Sanctuary. Kate had to convince John to take her there, he was most certain that Helen would not venture in this direction, but for some reason Kate had been insistent. She was walking through the empty hallways, the stone making a sickening empty sound when her boots hit with each step. She looked over at Druitt, who seemed lost in thought, her eyes scanning his form. She could see why the Doc would fall for him.

Shaking her head she moved forward into the building, the entry hall a few steps away. There were stairs there that she would need to take to get to the upper floors where she would search while Druitt searched the lower levels. That had been by his request. She stopped when she saw something lumped in the corner. Making her way over the shape she saw the clothes strewn about and the heels left discarded. Picking up the stilettos she turned them in her hands. "John!" She called out, her voice echoing off the barren walls.

Suddenly he was by her side, his chest not touching her back but so very close as he kneeled over her to glance over her shoulder. Kate raised her head to look at him and held up the items in her hands. "This is from when they first left." He fingered the soft cloth that Magnus had once been wearing.

Kate had a question on the tip of her tongue, and had it been months ago she would have feared asking the question. However, John was so different now from before and she no longer feared the question. "How do you know that?"

"Simply put, this is what she was wearing then."

"And more complexly said?"

"Her scent is faded, but not completely gone."

Kate's eyes narrowed at him to determine whether or not he was speaking truth and candidly. She waited a few beats before decided that he was indeed serious in his statement. "That's just a little creepy."

John smirked before pulling her hand and teleporting.

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Helen had him tied to two rings in the wall that he had never seen there before. His front was pressed against the stone that was freezing cold from the winter that was raging through Russia. Her hand roamed over his backside, from the tops of his shoulders and down to the curve of his butt. She was watching the chicken flesh rise in the wake of her fingers. When he moved, wiggled the slightest she smacked his ass hard causing a red handprint to appear on his skin.

He had gotten used to her roughness, even reveled in it when it came out but he longed for the soft Helen that he knew was there. They'd been on a killing spree for a few days, running wildly naked through forests in warmer lands killing minor abnormal creatures and playing in the ensuing blood bath. She had slept far more than he had, and he had watched over her unmoving form like a sentry waiting for a quarry to arrive. She was so beautiful in slumber; it was his favorite time to watch her. That or when she was hard at work, with papers and tea surrounding her.

The hand against his bottom brought him back into their reality. He could easily get loose and she knew it. It was part of the thrill, having him being so compliant and willing to bend to her demands. She was pressed against her, her body covering the length of his. Her hands skated around to his front so she could pinch and twist his nipples harshly. He pressed his face to the wall when the heat rose to the surface of his skin. His voice rasped out her name. She didn't stop and was pulling hair at his pubic hair forcing his ass into her groin. "Helen… Helen stop." She pulled away and rested her head against his back, in between his shoulder blades.

"What is it, Will?" She laid a kiss into his skin. She rubbed her body up against him, her warmth seeping into his flesh. "Love, what is it?"

"Untie me, Helen." She breathed deep, running her fingers up his arms until she could reach his hands. Slowly she untied the rope and let it fall to the ground. He turned to her hold her tightly about the waist, resting his head on her shoulder. She brushed gentle hands through his hair.

"Will?" The nerves in her voice penetrated into his chest and caused the muscles to tighten up. He kissed her deeply, his tongue slowly diverting her attention to only be on what his mouth was doing to her body. His fingers dipped inside her, gather moisture before trailing lines over her stomach and breasts. Her nipples were large and protruding from her body, his rough hand palming a circle around the darkened flesh. His lips moved to her neck and her head canted to the side. Her curls slid over her shoulder to her back the further he moved down. She called out his name lazily, running her nails lightly over his back feeling his muscles and joints glide against each other with each movement he made.

His mouth covered her breast and suckled gently until she moaned deep in the back of her throat. He teleported them, and his hand cupped her again. Her back hit something soft but she didn't care. This was a side of him that she hadn't seen. He had two fingers inside of her working a slowly and gentle rhythm. Her knees were spread far, her hands roaming over his chest while he held her hip in place his body positioned between her thighs. His tongue was dancing over her, tracing new patterns and following the old cuts that he had made.

Lips kissed her skin lovingly, her fingers carding through his hair at the same time. She took in a long breath and held it until he kissed between her legs. She held her knee back, her hand resting between her hot skin and the cold cement wall. She threw her head back onto the only pillow that was there. His tongue entered her gently to find the sweet taste of blood once again. As soon as the fluid hit his tongue be pulled back and looked at her oddly. It was not what he had expected but someone, without the shedding of blood unnaturally it was entirely enticing.

He bowed back down and licked his lips before tasting her again. Helen's breasts were sensitive when he reached up to twist her nipple. Her hips bucked up, his mouth following her movements when they started to undulate under his pleasing tongue. He moved to her clit and sucked gently, his teeth grazing the delicate skin. Her voice let out a cry of pleasure as she climbed over the edge, her body pulsating sharply. Will slid up her then and thrust slowly and gently in.

Their bodies moved together and she felt the pressure build, all her nerves sending shoots of tingles from her limbs to her core. The flush crept once again over her skin. Will was moving into her, his body sweating and rigid until he came inside her, Helen soon to follow. She kissed his red lips and brushed the painted wings off his cheeks. She smiled up at him. "I love you, William." He smirked and kissed her loudly.

"This is where I first fell completely in love with you."

Helen finally looked around after he settled down, head on her chest. They were in a small cement room, a cot in the corner with a red blanket strewn under their bodies. The lab had been untouched since they had vacated it more than a year ago. A ghost town for sure, she was sure that was all that was left of this place. That and the memories that she and Will held of those who had once lived there, those she had chosen to kill. It was one of the few places she had hoped to never venture again, but for this she would come back a thousand times more. He brushed away the tear that graced her cheek and brought the salty liquid to his lips dipping his tongue out to taste. "William…"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John and Kate were stalking around the Mumbai Sanctuary. She was following him after learning that he was far better at this than she was. Although she still had a few tricks up her sleeves. It had been six days at this point and she would have to return to the Sanctuary soon to check in on everything. Henry had called her once with an emergency and John and brought her back to help deal with the situation.

Nikola had succeeded in that amount of time to finish the machine that would take Jack from Will and simultaneously kill the life of the energy being. Helen would not be pleased in the killing of another being. If she could keep it without causing harm then she would by far prefer that as a solution. However, Nikola had no qualms and he was sure that Jack was the source of many of the fives issues.

Henry was getting on his nerves, but at least the young puppy was bringing him a never-ending supply of wine. Nikola was now wandering around the complex exploring all the nooks and crannies that Magnus had been kind enough to not tell him about. He knew that the wine cellar was one of those places. She may have moved everyone underground but she was not a woman to be without her wine. He ran into the big hairy guy who grunted at him as he left the room. After finding no sign of the wine cellar, he sat at the computer in her office and began to run through the files.

He wasn't started when he heard the teleport and slowly turned in the chair to face the man and woman now also occupying the room. "Any trace?"

"Mumbai and Russia. They seem to be hitting the Sanctuary's but we stopped by the remaining few and didn't find any sign of them."

Nikola took a sip from his half full glass, his lips pursing at the warmth of the liquid. John moved to the cabinet where he knew she kept the brandy and poured himself a snifter. When he offered one to Kate and she refused his took a long sip and savored the flavor as it burned down his throat. "Seems she's gone off again."

"Won't be long before she surfaces." The man spoke above her, knowing more about the woman that she herself did. It was helpful and it was annoying at the same time. "She's never been one to hide for too long, with beauty like hers who could?"

John clenched his teeth. He never appreciated Nikola's comments about the woman; he only tolerated them so long as Jack was at bay. "We will begin again in the morning, perhaps you would join us?" Nikola smirked before leaving the room.


	11. Fading Red

For some reason John had suggested that they go there. Nikola hadn't even thought of it and Kate was damned sure that they weren't there, but John did seem to have a sixth sense about Magnus that she was still trying to figure out. They were walking through the deserted town. It had been that way for over a year and Kate very much doubted it would change any time soon. The three of them looked to be strangers from the wrong time walking through the barren and empty town. Nikola looked the most out of place in his three piece suit and tie walking in his haughty way and sneering at everything in sight.

John wandered around for a while passing the door multiple times and discreetly ignoring it. Nikola picked at a piece of mold that was growing over a stone, his nail flicking it before he wiped his hands on a cloth he procured from his pocket. "What makes you think they would come here?" His nose scrunched when he remembered the fee of the slime gliding over his fingers. "This is far below Helen's standards."

"Nostalgia." John's deep voice rumbled over them. He stalked back to the door and rested his hand against it, just above the handle. "They're in here."

"You're sure?" Kate was filled with doubt. "Not to diss you or anything, but we have been searching for them for sixteen days…" she trailed off when she saw his glare.

He hummed, "Yes I thought so." He closed his eyes. "I can't teleport in there." This was said to Nikola who had taken up residence behind Kate and was watching his old friend curiously. John removed his hand and turned back to them. "Limestone. We need to have a plan. They're in there."

"You don't think they'll come willingly?" Nikola glanced at the door scoffing, "You think she'll fight to protect junior? Come now, Johnny, she has more taste than that." John hit the handle and opened the door giving in to the inevitable. The light from the day slid over the two bodies rutting around on the cold cement floor. There were streaks of blood along the ground and walls. Helen was sitting astride Will in his abnormal form, his red and black body moving in and out of her. The smell hit John first and he had to force his head to stay in position and not lift a hand to cover his face.

It was pure sex. The stench of it overwhelmed him and stinging the insides of his nostrils. It was dank and musty mixed with sweat and bodily fluids. They must have been in there for days. Helen didn't stop when she looked up. Her eyes narrowed because of the light as she tried to process who was entering. Her body still bounced atop the young man. Her breasts jarred suddenly when Will flipped them over and her head cracked onto the ground below making Kate wince along with the woman.

She was dazed when John stomped forward and ripped the man from her body. She whimpered and Will hissed; his throat beckoning the sound just before John's fist collided with his jaw. "Did he just hiss?" Kate turned to Nikola, her eyes wide. He ignored her and stepped further into the room, the irony scent of blood hitting him the hardest. The room was saturated with it, old and fresh. He snorted heavily to try and rid his body of the urges that were taking over, but it didn't help. He was momentarily distracted and looked up in time to seen Helen Magnus, naked and running over to John her nails digging into his face and tearing a streak from his eye to his chin.

A moment's pause hit them when she realized what she had just done and took a step back. Will was rubbing his jaw in a circle and John was clutching his own face. Kate took a step forward leaving Nikola behind her and moved to Magnus. She grabbed the blanket off the cot and handed it to the woman who immediately wrapped it tightly around her body. "Thank you," her voice was hoarse and weary. Will morphed back into his human form and sat on a stool that they had found earlier in the week. She waited patiently looking from each person to the next, silently issuing an order to speak and answer her unasked question.

Kate was timid when she spoke up, but it seemed neither one of her companions were going to give in to the demands. "We've been looking for you for over two weeks?"

Helen's eye brows rose and her neck bounced back a memory niggling in the back of her mind. "Has it really been that long?" The looks on all their faces said the young Indian's statement was not false. Her eyes slid over to connect with Will's. He was embarrassed she could see that easily. She stepped in front of him and leaned back. The young man gladly wrapped his hands around her waist and his chin on her shoulder and effectively covering himself up from anyone's prying eyes.

At the move John glanced at the vampire, if it was only to prove his earlier point. Nikola snarled and turned back to Helen. "Planning on coming home any time soon or should I just take over your organization and run it as I see fit?"

"Really, Nikola? I doubt you've even needed me these past few days."

"Um…I can attest otherwise." Kate raised her hand and stood on one leg, her other spinning on its toe. "Lots of crises, no time, um… you'll have lots of paperwork to catch up on. Wanna start that right away?" Her voice rose and Magnus could tell she was nervous about something.

"What's the real reason you are here?" Will's arms tightened around her waist and snuggled his face a bit deeper into her curls.

"You need to come with us, Helen." John's eyes bore into her own and it was a battle of will's being played out before everyone else. It was something that Nikola had seen many a time and was really rather used to it. However, both of their younger counterparts had never experience such an intensity of silent conversation and battle.

She bit her lip before responding. "I will not." John moved forward rapidly before she had a chance to move. He grabbed her arm harshly and twisted until she was on her tippy toes. His head glowered down close to her face their noses almost touching.

"You don't have a choice, Helen."

"Like hell I do." Her knee lifted up and connected with his groin hard enough that the man bowed down before her. When his head was low enough she dropped the blanket covering her body and rammed his nose into the top of her thigh. When she shoved him back so he fell down his nose was amply bleeding and he was cupping his hand to his face. "Don't touch me." Low and like a growl the words whipped around him.

John ignored her heed and charged forward his hands out in front of him, bloodied from his nose. He reached for her arms to confine her in place. Magnus twisted violently and set her back against him so she could ram her elbow deep into his ribs. He grunted and stepped back just as Nikola came forward. Will stood then but she was shoved aside when he grabbed for her by the vampire. Magnus went down and hit her head against the table that was still stationary in the room.

The clunk was loud and echoed; her groan was soft but was drowned out by the howl that Will let out. He transformed back into his abnormal form and lunged at Nikola. The vampire came out and scratched his long nails across the abnormal's chest drawing blood. Will landed crunched in a circle with the dark eyed man looming over him. Kate rushed to Magnus' side to check on her boss while John stood and stalked toward will. Helen cried out, "John!" and jumped to her toes racing forward. She jumped onto his back and bit into his ear ripping a good chunk off as he tried to throw her from his back.

Nikola stood back up from his throttling of Will and grabbed Helen by the hips using his vampiric strength to rip her from him. When she was on her feet she pulled his head forward with her left hand and punched backwards with her right, successfully hitting his eye socket. She heard the bone break but thought nothing of it when she saw Will standing before her. He reached out in an attempt to teleport, she knew that was his plan but his arm was broken by Kate's two hands and her knee. The cry he let out hurt everyone's ears. They all covered their hands and winced while Magnus moved forward shoving the young woman away. She felt the bullet slice through her shoulder just before she reached him.

Turning, Magnus saw Will fall back with a similar wound appearing in his leg. His eyes widened and flashed blue before he hit the ground. She moved to look at the perpetrator and found Kate staring her down the barrel of the gun with a blue dot by her hand. All Helen could think as she joined Will on the cold floor below was that thankfully it was only a tranquilizer.

She slowly woke to see Will flailing and feeling his nervous energy raging through her systems. Her head turned, her eyes blurring when she tried to focus. She drew in a sharp breath pain rising in her chest while she watched Nikola inject something into Will's arm. Probably a sedative. She felt him relax and drift away, her mind becoming clearer. She was dressed in scrubs, and she would have moved but her body hurt so much that she didn't dare try.

John noticed she was away first and silently glided over to her. He checked her vitals and ran a hand over her cheek. "Feeling alright?"

Not wanting to give up too much, she nodded. "Will?" She knew he was sleeping now, she could feel it.

"Some cuts and bruises is all. Nikola finished, we were just getting ready to implement."

Swallowing deeply and licking her lips, Helen took in a deep breath. "Sounds good."

"Want some water?"

"Yeah." He handed her a cup and let her drink a few sips before taking it back. "Thanks." Their eyes locked and she saw the pain that she had caused. His nose was swollen and there were streaks of dried blood that he'd missed in cleaning. The collar of his shirt was also covered in the substance. "John, I'm so sorry." She took his hand and squeezed gingerly. "I don't know what came over me."

"I think we all know what happened."

She did have the decency to almost blush, and to look away. She nodded and once again looked over at Will where Nikola was hooking him up to a very elaborate electrical machine. His fingers, his chest, his toes, his legs, arms and face were all connected to tiny probes that rested just under his flesh. "How painful will it be?"

"Excruciating." She didn't respond to the answer he gave only continued her gaze over his body. "You need to eat something."

"Not hungry."

"Helen." She turned to him then, daring him to continue. "Please, eat something."

"Help me sit up." He complied and lifted her body, stacking pillows behind her back so she was sitting and could better focus on Will. Nikola glanced in her direction, his eyes taking in her beaten and weary form before he flicked the switch and turned the machine on.


	12. Shocking Red

She didn't move when she heard his first scream pierce the still air in the infirmary. John hadn't been exaggerating, she knew he wouldn't. He was a straight forward man, never one for playing mind games like Nikola and James had been. Nikola turned the machine off for a second and made a few adjustments. She couldn't see exactly what he was doing, but many knobs were turned and calculations made. He was working and rarely did he want to be interrupted when working. Will's body was trembling on the clean sheets, she could see it. She could feel it. A jittery sensation flowed through her muscles and stopped at the ends of her limbs.

A small tear escaped the corner of her eye and felt onto the pillow that was supporting her head. John was sitting behind her on the bed while she curled up to watch Nikola's experiment come to fruition. John's hand found its way to her hip and leg and began to rub up and down soothingly. "Where's Kate?"

"In your office: there was a new request for Sanctuary from the surface, she thought she'd handle it."

The woman nodded and continued to watch Nikola carefully, her mind telling her it was so that he wouldn't make a mistake and her heart telling her it was for a completely different reason. She watched as he flitted around the man in question, shifting the placement of some of the probes and leaving others alone. He stopped for a second and watched her again. "Helen, perhaps you want to go up to your room and freshen up a bit. You don't exactly look your best."

The statement caught her off guard. Nikola was never one to protect her from something. John and James yes, but never Nikola. He always let her get into trouble, and Nigel had always brought trouble with him. "No, I'm fine." Her voice was still hoarse and suddenly she found the tiny cup in front of her again. She held it loosely between her fingers and took a sip.

He spoke from behind her, "I urge you to reconsider."

"Stop coddling me, John. I'm not a child." It was something she had said to him many times before, only this time the vehemence in her tonality took him off guard and set him on edge.

"Check the sedation, Nikola." Her eyes spun to the man, her body turning into his as she tried to shove him away. John grabbed onto her arms and held her down while Nikola checked the IV that was now nestled into Will's arm. He shot in another needle and watched it take effect, the minute twitching movements the man had been making stopping. Magnus calmed and rested once again against the pillows lining her back and the bed. She was exhausted, her entire body pulling into sleep but she readily and bull-headedly resisted.

John was watching the woman next to him carefully, her eyes as they opened and closed and the way her body was beginning to tense muscle after muscle. He reached out just as the first sob broke through her quiet demeanor and wrapped his arms around her. Helen's face was buried in his shoulder, the tears socking his shirt and her breathing becoming rough with short breaths. He made soothing sounds, rubbed her back and hair, kissed the top of her head and wet cheeks while she tried to calm her body and only having the opposite effect than desired.

He looked over to his long-time friend who was still working on the young protégé and pulled up Helen's chin to kiss her lips tenderly. The crying didn't stop when he deepened the kiss to distract her, his large hands brushing over her cheeks to push away the salty drops of water still falling. He didn't notice when she started kissing him back, when her movements became forward and he was also reciprocating.

Tongues entwined and their chests were plastered together. John pulled her lip carefully between his teeth and scraped the skin softly before diving back in and deepening the embrace. She took in a deep breath and pulled back, her brain and body once again fighting. She shook her head and the tears started to spill once again. "I can't do this, John."

Nothing was said. No sounds made. All he did was place an open palm on her cheek and lovingly pulled her head back to his shoulder and rocked back and forth in a soothing rhythm. Her eyes were shut until she heard the flick of the switch over John's raging heartbeat in her ear. Blue eyes locked on blue when Nikola looked over once again and allowed the electricity to flow through Will's nerves.

His back arched off the mattress and his face contorted with pain. His teeth barred and a silent scream showed on his face, his eyes watering. All his muscles were tense and in an instance she began to feel the same pain raging through her body. Each placement of the probes under his skin burned in her own body. She curled around John's arm as he held her, his muscles tightening beyond any point that she thought possible. Helen was moaning and groaning from the bouts of electricity that she felt going to her body when Will let out a blood curdling scream. John tightened his grip and looked warily at Nikola who was still making adjustments on the machine.

A knob was turned right and Will lost his breath falling back onto the gurney, his breathing rapid pace and his features slowly relaxing. Helen easily followed suit, John noting the changes in her body while watching the young man across from them. "Are you done Nikola?" He was short.

"No, it wasn't strong enough, I need more power." He pushed out one long vampiric nail and twiddled it on his lip while thinking. He swiftly moved to the intercom, "Heinrich, I need some batteries up here now."

"How many?" No sharp remark was made, Henry knew the circumstances and was loath to deal with the vamp but he was the only one who could deal with it.

"Two should do. Fetch them quick and you might get a treat." He hung up and turned back to the man that was beginning to writhe and slowly move on the bed. "Seems junior here will need more sedative, it wears off quickly with this new chemistry in his body." Nikola stalked back to the man with syringe in hand and gave more to him. He clicked his tongue while surveying the man's body. "Ah, and the sexus daemonium has arisen again." With tongue in cheek he turned back to waggle his eyebrows at Helen and John. She was still curled around his body, slowing her own breathing.

She licked her lips, "Nikola." His mood turned somber and he moved over to her, bending low to catch her words. "This has to be the last time." He nodded and retreated when Henry came in bearing the gifts he was ordered to bring.

The batteries were set up, hooked to the machine. A few of the probes locations were changed and he was ready to go again. Helen screamed as the first jolt of electricity shocked her body. John cradled her tightly trying to prevent the jerky movements in her limbs as she couldn't control her body. Will was far worse off. His entire body was shaking from the waves flowing through him, trembling and pitching from side to side. He soiled himself and his scream echoed off the walls and reverberated around the room. Helen's voice joined his.

John lifted her up to take her out of the room, hoping that distance would help. She grabbed his cheeks suddenly and drew his face to hers their noses touching. "Stop. Don't make me leave him." He nodded and let her body slide to the floor holding her upright her face buried once again in his chest. She was watching as the electricity stopped and she saw the blue waves float through some of the probes and back to the machine that he was hooked up to.

It seemed to take minutes until the flow stopped. Nikola smashed his hand down on a button and she watched as the being captured in plastic began to slowly dissipate and diminish. "Wait, you're killing it!" She ranted and lunged for the machine. John held her back while Nikola slapped on the heart monitor. There was no blip on the screen.

As fast as he could, Nikola pulled the probes from Will's body letting the broken flesh and torn tissue bleed out. He threw them to the ground and shoved the machine back before racing to the other side of the bed and pulling over the defibrillator. He hit the switch to charge the machine and got the paddles ready. It seemed to take minutes. Helen was once again crying, her eyes welling with tears while John held her in place and Nikola waited. When the time was right he placed them on the bloodied chest and depressing the buttons. Another bolt of electricity flowed through his body and Helen crunched into a fetal position her body being supported by John who knelt down behind her.

She was sobbing again when she realized that Will hadn't responded to the jolt her body shaking from either the overwhelming emotions or the tail ends of the electric shocks on her nerves. "Do it again," she whispered.

"Nikola." It was all prompting the vampire needed as he depressed the buttons again and another wave crashed into her. She fell to the ground her face pressing into the cold floor. She reveled in the stark contrast; it felt like her body was on fire. John held her hips tightly while her body shook through it. He looked up at his old friend his eyes pleading the vampire to not shock the man again. When there was no jump on the monitor the vampire had little choice. The machine was charged and once again he hit the buttons and watched Will's chest rise from the bed.

Helen was screaming out again and John saw a trail of blood come from her mouth as she coughed, spurting forth onto the concrete floor. "That's it, Nikola. It's killing her."

"We don't know if she'll survive if he's dead."

John's head turned sharply to the man, his tongue spitting the words out, "She has a better chance of living if you don't shock him again."

He didn't listen, he shocked Will once again and Helen's body remained lax against John's a moment longer than he would have liked. He shook her shoulder until she groaned and protested against the movement. He lifted her up and set her on the bed she had previously occupied. Nikola set the paddles back when he saw the small blib on the monitor. "Well now, Johnny, I didn't kill either of them did I?"

"Not yet, old friend." He watched as more blood spilled forth from between her lips. "Not yet." He curled his fingers over her forehead and brushed the bangs out of her face.


	13. Red Stains

Helen had been in the infirmary for two weeks before she was released and was only allowed to work half time: something which John was diligently enforcing. She'd just about had enough of his coddling and doting. They were seated in her office and she was sipping at her third cup of tea that morning glaring at John the entire time. He'd forced it on her, using the excuse that too much tea never hurt anyone. She had just huffed and took a long sip to avoid any smart retort that would ensue. She was far fonder of Nikola, who had been much better.

He had left her quite alone. In fact, since her release three days prior she had only seen him once or twice. One of those times was a simple request for more wine. Come to think of it, it was rather odd to have him wandering about and not stopping in to annoy or frustrate her with his antics multiple times in one day. "John," she started; her voice low and serious and her eyes not straying from his face. "What's been going on with Nikola?"

The man facing her hummed and turned away, really not wanting to answer the question. "Nothing, he's been working in the lab."

"It isn't like him, he's usually roaming about a bit more unless there's a pressing urgency and, well, there's not." She took another sip of the tea to make sure that she was still placating him. Although, if this continued another day further she would have to have a serious talk with the man.

"He probably came up with another brilliant scheme. You know the man, he's done this before."

She rested an open palm on John's knee. "He has, hasn't he?" She recognized the signs. "I haven't apologized have I?" At the look on John's face she knew she had confused him. "For treating you the way I did. It's not like I gave you much of an option, I used you, I beat you, I acted very untoward and I'm sorry John."

"Don't be, you had other things on your mind."

"That does not excuse my actions." She set the tea down deciding that with the distraction of the conversation he wouldn't notice. She cupped his cheek and leaned forward kissing his skin gently and amicably. "I truly am sorry for the way I acted. Thank you for coming to find me."

"Always, Helen."

Her chin dipped down and she ignored his implications. "John, I hardly think it was appropriate or excusable. And I can say that it will not happen again."

"I understand."

"Do you John? Because I don't want to have this conversation again." He remained silent and she really did hope that he was finally understanding what she meant. She waited another few beats before smoothing down her skirt and standing. "I'm going to check on Will before I take a nap." The man nodded and she left the room without looking back.

Helen took her time making her way down to the labs. She hadn't been in this area in what seemed like ages and all she could remember was the stark image of Will lying on the floor seizing. It was the beginning of the whole mess that she was just now trying to get out of. She had to speak with Nikola on the matter. He had done so much for her in the past month and all she had done was use him and violate their trust and friendship, yet again. She walked into the lab to find him hard at work bent over another mechanism that she had no idea its origin or its purpose. She watched him work for a few minutes before stepping forward and running a hand on his arm. He turned to her slowly. "Glad sleeping beauty decided to emerge from the den of doom."

She smirked in response, her eyes fluttering down. "Yes well it's been a bit difficult to get away from the warden, honestly, he's worse than my old friend." She gave him a brilliant smile then that was only half returned.

"Well Johnny does have a point sometimes. He does have a use as well." He hummed to himself lost in his own thoughts before turning back on her and letting his eyes trail up and down her body. When their eyes locked she watched as he vamped and became what she so rarely understood. This was not the Nikola she knew and loved. He twiddled his finger on his lip, his eyes still moving over her body. She felt exposed and vulnerable, like he could see right through her, but she was not one to back down. Particularly to him. "Where did you find this skimpy thing?" His finger indicated her blouse and skirt. Helen raised an eyebrow in question. "It's not something you would have been caught dead wearing years ago."

"Years ago was a different life time, Nikola. You know that." Her voice threatened to tremble but she didn't let it. She was beginning to slowly recognize this side of him.

"You know I love you."

Her heart stopped a moment; her breath caught in her throat until he took a large step forward and forced her back against the wall. His finger slipped between the small opening in her shirt and slid down popping all the strings on the buttons until the material fell open and her flawless skin with a dash of freckles and scars was exposed. Nikola licked his lips.

There was only a second and she had no time to react before his lips covered hers. She moaned and moved into him slightly, her body reacting before her mind could take control again. This man had a way of making her burn with anger sometimes and she was very much reaching that point, if only his tongue would stop whatever it was doing inside her mouth. She felt his nails retract and his mouth soften against hers, but the persistence was still there.

Slowly she eased away and watched as he went from confident to embarrassed to arrogant in the span of milliseconds. "What a lovely going away present Helen. I should take one more often."

"You son of a bitch." She was about to continue when once again he pressed into her. Her warm body was against the cold wall and his hands were roaming aimlessly against her flesh under the open shirt. She had little to no defenses against him when it came to physical actions. All she had was her mind and it was something he loved, adored and respected. He moved to her jawline, kissing along the curve of the bone until he reached her ear. He flicked his tongue inside for a second before biting the lobe gently. He suckled hard on the skin just behind before traipsing down her neck to her collar bone.

Helen was breathing hard and trying to regain control of her motor functions, first up would be speech and she regained that readily. "Nikola," she swallowed and breathed deeply, "If you don't stop, I will shoot you." He chuckled and pecked her lips before pulling back and letting his eyes once again rove over her body. She was flushed and very aroused, but that didn't matter. "You know it won't work, Nikola. Admit it, it never would have."

"Doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun."

"Just don't get hurt by playing too hard." He nodded and she knew her warning and apology had been headed. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, wrapped her arms and shirt tightly around her body and headed up to her room to change. She decided on a shirt without buttons this time as she tossed the one she had been wearing into the waste bin and slipped out the door and down to the infirmary.

Will had woken shortly before she had been released, the damage to his body far greater than her own, not to mention the toll that had been taken the weeks prior. She sat on the edge of his bed and checked his vitals while he slept soundly. He was always so peaceful when he slept. She didn't want to wake him and was determined to return later. She made her rounds, checking their guests and residents. She had missed this and she hadn't even realized it. She stayed a moment with Sally, talking telepathically with the mermaid and making sure everything in her new enclosure was working well. She slipped a finger over the silver at her wrist and checked the time. Sally read her thoughts and sent the woman on her way.

Stalking back to the infirmary, Helen made a mental note to have the enclosure cleaned more regularly, even if Sally hadn't mentioned it, she had been able to see the small line of scum at the top of the water. The door was already opened when she reached it. Slipping inside, Helen looked around the room at the empty beds, glad to see that no one else had joined Will in his stay.

Her eyes caught Nikola, his back curved over Will as the man slept soundly. She canted her head to the right to see around his body. He was fiddling with the IV line. Her mouth opened when she saw the needle and liquid being injected. Moving immediately she raced over to the pair and gripped Nikola's hand as he tried to shove it away. "What on earth?" Her eyes looked from the needle to the plastic tubing once again before locking on the vampire's face. "What have you done?"

"Only what needed to be done."

"What did you inject him with?" Her grasp was tight and hurting him, but he didn't dare back down.

"Nothing of your concern."

"Damn it, Nikola." She released him and pressed her fingers against Will's neck just as his body started to convulse and rear up in torrents pain. She could see it on his face; his eyes were clenched shut, his molars grinding, his jaw muscles were stiff and tight. He wasn't breathing. He was in too much pain. She ripped the IV from his arm and pressed him down on the bed, trying to hold his body in place. Her eyes moved to Nikola begging for help, but he had turned his back and slowly sauntered out of the room wiping his hands clean of the matter. Turning back to Will she watched his body fight against whatever had been injected into him and she had two options. Either hold him still to prevent further harm or leave him to race for a paralytic.

Her heart was pumping and her adrenaline kicked her. Her eyes roved over his body taking in the ticks and movements of the muscles as they began to lay lax against the bed and his body calmed. Her eyes finally reached his face again and she noticed his lips go blue. Turning to the monitor she heard the fatal continuous beep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a third part to this series and then it will be ended. I will post soon, the more reviews I get the sooner I'll post it. But also, review because of donations to S4K's ... that's the most important reason.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: In honor of a fantastic TV show that got me back into fic writing after ten years being out, and in honor of a fantastic and wonderful lady, every review that I get this month I will donate $0.50 to Sanctuary For Kids. If this goes well and you don't break this insufficient bank, then I will continue this tradition for as long as I can (meaning about as long as I am writing fic and have money to donate). I also love reviews, so hopefully this will get more! Spread the word. I will be doing this on all the sites that I post one, not just this one. You can simple write "read it" or "donate!" and I'll make it happen. At the end of this month (June) I will tally everything together and give you an update. So please! Let's help some kids in need out! Btw we’re up to 15 this month already so keep it coming and I’ll keep the stories coming. ~~Arones


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